A Dirge for All Nobodies
by Riku's Dark Vampire Girl
Summary: Chap 13: "And that gave you the right to set his hair on fire?" Number 6 asked..."Hey, Dirge asked him nicely to move, but when he didn't it was time to burn something!" Axel explained. Nothing like some bonding time.
1. Hello World!

**Disclaimer**: To start off, I don't own KH or any of it's odd and twisted characters that we've all come to know and love. If I did, I'd be making money and out eating tacos!

Alrighty then, I'm back with a new fanfic! Been a while since I last made a new one and this one I've kept in the back of my mind for FAR TOO LONG! So I needed to let it out into a somewhat humorous story! This fanfic should start out as a sorta timelined story but also keep in its funny depths a several one-shots or little random side stories somewhere in there unless I forget to stick them in there at all, but they should come up so have no fear! The cannibal bear _**will not**_ eat you!

Now do not fret my fellow strawberry people! This does not mean I will stop working on my fanfics in progress, might be a teeny bit slow, but I will be working on them so don't get mad, get glad!

More A/Ns at the end with some important news on The Day the World Stood Chibi so be sure to check that out as well. So please, do enjoy and be sure to review at the end. Enjoy the trip!

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"Hah!" he called as he swung his arm.

"Not so fast!" his partner chased after the object and swung his arm.

The object went back and forth between the two, bouncing over the next between them. It had been a tight game, both boys were panting as they followed with their eyes and attacking it with the object in their hands. The spikey haired blond made quick shots and tried to trick his red haired opponent. His opponent threw back every move that was shot at him, his confidence rising, but quickly dropped like a rock. He had blocked a quick attack on his left and threw it back at his opponent, but the spikey haired blond swiftly smacked it past him while he let his guard down. The ping pong dropped off the table, Axel lost the game.

"I win!" Roxas cheered, throwing his paddle up in the air before it came back down on his head. He didn't care, he was too drunk on the victory of winning.

"Fine, fine" Axel reached down and picked up the ball. As he did it, he reached into his wallet and took out several tiny yellow orbs. How they all fit, he had no idea. "There you go, a twenty munny" he reluctantly gave them to the winner of the game. 'There goes going out for Chinese' he thought to himself and winced.

"Admit it; you love me too much to be mad" Roxas gave him a smile of confidence.

"Yes" Axel blushed and looked to the side. "Well too bad I don't feel the same for you" Roxas stuffed his winnings in his pocket and went to pick up his paddle, leaving Axel to pout behind him. It so did give him the right to be mad, but not too mad. Just then, the intercom beeped and Xemnas' voice came on...

"All Organization XIII members report to the meeting room. I repeat, report to the meeting room. Like, right now!" he called. Roxas and Axel rose an eyebrow. What the hell could he possibly want this time. Every meeting they've had so far had been over house rules and duties and it was getting _real_ annoying, _really _fast.

"We'd better get going before we miss more on 'how to mop the floor right' or 'how to clean the toilets after using them'" Axel said and waved his arms in a sarcastic manner. Roxas chuckled, even though it wasn't that funny, but he was always up for a joke when it came to Xemnas. Together, they disappeared in their own corridor of darkness.

Those things, are crazy. The moment you enter one, your organs are tossed back as you're thrown into middair. You were either tossed feet or ass first depending on where you were going. Since the duo was going to the meeting room, their asses were dragged first into the air and sped straight to the white light at the end of the tunnel that was their group's crest.

Roxas always got nervous when this happened because he never knew how to make the soft landing his butt could never give him when it came to this. The crest became bigger as he got closer. "Oh crap!" he shouted as he could feel the jolt of pain shoot up his cushion to the rest of his poor heartless body. It wasn't fair! Once his butt touched the crest, his sideways body was turned up into a sitting position and the dark tunnel vanished. He was finally in his chair.

"My poor butt" he whimpered, rubbing his butt and wincing as he looked around the room to see who else was there.

Saix, sat in a chair higher than him, appearing to be the first there since he was such a suckup to Xemnas and probably had a thing for him too. Zexion was in another chair, reading from his lexicon, waiting for the others to show up. Xigbar was also in his chair, slumped down with his butt hanging off while holding onto the arms of his chairs, completely bored. Axel finally appeared in the chair next to Roxas, taking out the pillow from under him.

"Where'd you get that?" Roxas asked as he leaned towards him.

"Stopped by my room at the last meeting and put this here for a soft landing" Axel smirked with pride. He had actually thought ahead. Is the end of the world coming?

"No fair! My butt's getting beat up from all this!" Roxas sat back in his chair and crossed his arms just as everybody else had arrived, excluding Xemnas.

"Where's the leader?" Luxord put his elbow up and laid his head on his hand.

"He better show up. I didn't stop eating my cheesecake for nothing" Larxene growled as she crossed her arms.

"I swear, with all these meetings. What else does Mansex have for us?" Marluxia sighed in annoyance. Immediately after, an inhuman growl came from across the room...from Saix. Everybody in the room immediately sat back in their chairs. Suck up.

"Down here you idiot!" Xemnas' voice called out from below. Everybody looked down to see him waving his arms with a small, but viewable, angry face on his...face.

"You're gonna get it now Marluxia!" Xigbar laughed from his chair.

"Everybody get down here! I've got something to show you!" he called.

Everybody looked up at each other with the look of "srsly" on their face. It had taken a butt beating from most of them to get up to their chairs and now their leader wanted them to drop a mile and a half down to him? He should've told them to be down their in the first place!

Saix jumped down first, arms out and one foot first and landing gracefully. Zexion put away his book in a dark mist and sighed before jumping after him. Lexaeus stood up and also jumped, but being more heftier than the other two, dropped like a truck; his impact shook the whole room. All the rest of them stood up and looked down. There was no way they'd go through another corridor just for that, and no way they were going to jump when they could break their necks. Either way, they were going to get hurt.

"Uh, you girly men!" Larxene huffed nervously and jumped. Unfortunately for her, but fortunate for the others, her coat flew up and her bunny panties were exposed to the men.

"Alright Larxene!" Xigbar called as the other men above whistled at her. Xemnas tried to shy away his blushing face. She blushed as red as a tomato and tried to put her coat down, distracting her from her landing only to make her crash on her legs. Broken? No. As mad and embarrassed as hell? You bet your sweet patootie.

The rest of those above jumped off, screaming at the top of their lungs and praying for dear afterlife that it was not their last jump before crashing into the marble like floor below. Axel and Roxas still stood in their chairs, staring at each other as they waited for one of them to jump. Who would be first to crash-erm, jump? They both looked at how high it was and then back to each other.

"Jump if you jump?" Axel asked, pointing to the ground.

"S-sure" Roxas nodded nervously.

Turning forward and swinging their arms slowly as they watched each other, they crouched down and counted each other off.

"One"

"Two"

"THREE!" Roxas shouted, jumping without noticing Axel didn't jump.

"You bastard!" he yelled as he fell while Axel was laughing above.

"That's for the pingpong game, you butt thing!" Axel laughed as he saw Roxas fall and finally crash. He finally followed after by running off his chair and jumping off, holding his legs and aiming to land on the dirty blond below. At least he would get his soft landing.

"Demyx, look out!" Roxas reached out to him as he rubbed his butt. The blond looked up and saw Axel cannon balling right towards him and began to run around in circles, not exactly sure what to do next. He finally moved a few inches in front of the spot where Axel was supposed to land and sighed in relief. Unfortunately, Axel shot his legs out in front of him and tackled Demyx down in the butt with his boots. "Hah!" he pointed at Roxas.

"Are you quite done?" Xemnas crossed his arms and sighed in annoyance. Axel nodded happily as he stepped off his lower officer.

"Now then, we have a new member today which is the reason I gathered you all here. It just so happens that she is a very special Nobody" Xemnas started.

"She?" Axel whispered in surprise. Another female member?

"That's what you said about Roxas and look at how he turned out!" Larxene pointed to the blonde across from her, who pouted and lifted "the finger" in response.

"Shut up, Number XII. She truley is just as special as Roxas. Now, she's a little shy, so treat her with a little respect, alright?" Xemnas asked, looking behind himself. Roxas squinted and could see a fuzzy red ball floating behind him. 'What the hell?' he thought.

"Meet your new member" Xemnas stepped to the side. From behind his coat was a small girl, holding a Moogle plush tightly in her arms. Her skin was a light dark and her hair a raven black with bangs in her face. Two small orbs of gold peeked from under the bangs. She shook her hips a little bit, shaking the tail of her panda suit a little bit. Standing next to Xemnas, she seemed only to reach his hips. Everybody stared. She held her Moogle tighter in her arms as she felt their eyes on her.

"This is it? This is what you called us here for!?" Larxene pointed. The girl darted behind Xemnas.

"Back off, Larxene! You're scaring her!" Roxas stood up and walked over. "Hi there! Wanna come out?" Roxas called, putting out his hand.

"What's her name, Xemnas?" Saix turned his attention to his leader since the girl had fled to the safety behind him.

"I was unable to make her a name, she seemed to have already named herself; Dirge" he moved to the side again to uncover her again. She began to tremble as if she had been out in the cold for hours, just now coming into warmth.

"Don't be shy. We won't hurt you" Vexen stepped forward and gave a warm smile. Unfortunately for Dirge, it looked like the creepiest smile from some type of perverted man and she shrieked, grabbing onto Xemnas' coat and pulled close to him. Axel, Demyx, and Xigbar burst out laughing.

"Even she thinks you're a creepy old man!" Axel gasped between his laughter.

"Shut up!" the scientist shouted at them and crossed his arms.

Marluxia stepped forward and leaned down, creating a rose in his hand. "A red rose for the lovely girl" he smiled.

She came from behind Xemnas and sniffed it a little before letting out a small sneeze. Marluxia absolutely freaked out.

"How dare you mock the flower! If it wasn't for this, there would be no beauty in the worl-" Marluxia was cut off by Xaldin covering his mouth.

"You can't hide behind there forever" Xemnas looked down to her.

"You probably don't want to. When he breaks wind, you want to run as far as you freaking can!" Axel finally finished laughing after Vexen's attempt. Xemnas stepped threateningly at the unfazed officer and then looked down to the worried and slightly disgusted girl looking up at him. She let him go and scurried over to Roxas. He looked down to her and smiled gently, reassuring that she'd be okay behind him...and that he won't break wind.

"Whatever. Anyways, since Dirge is so young, it will be our duty-" Demyx broke out laughing, "_for _us to take care of her and train her. Though don't take her appearance lightly, she holds a maginificent power" Xemnas strained to finish past Demyx's break out.

"Great! Babysitting" Luxord mumbled.

"What did I just finish saying you drunk bastard!" Xemnas twitched an eye at him.

Roxas shook his head in shame. Srsly. "Hm?" he felt a tug on his coat. He looked down to see Dirge jumping lightly. He leaned down and smiled. "My name's Dirge. What's yours?" she whispered. Her voice was light and small. "My name's Roxas. And that manic redhead over there," he stopped and pointed at Axel, "is my friend Axel" he turned back to her. A smile formed on her lips. "You're cute" she chuckled. He smiled, he couldn't resist it. She was speaking the truth.

"Oh, and she has to stay with somebody since we don't have any extra rooms at the moment. Axel!" Xemnas picked.

"What?!" Axel screamed. Wasn't expecting that. "Why can't she stay with Larxene? She is a girl after all!" he pointed at the blond witch who shot him back a look.

"You remember that puppy we had a few months ago that we left with Larxene when we went on that trip?" Xemnas crossed his arms again. Axel nodded. "It didn't run away, I found one of Larxene's knives in its chest and its tail ripped off" he answered. Xaldin automatically broke down and started crying out "Poor Chi Chi!" while almost everybody else stared.

"You need to learn to be more responsible anyways. So deal" Xemnas spit his tongue out and disappeared in a dark corridor. Axel started to mumble like crazy and crossed his arms. Everybody else disappeared in a dark corridor, excluding Axel, Roxas, and Dirge, making fun of Axel on their ways out.

"I'd rather have her bunk with me" Roxas smiled down to her. "Then why didn't you say so!" Axel flailed his arms. The Destiny Key shrugged and made a noise that sounded like "I dunno."

"Hey, shortstuff" he looked behind him to the small girl. She peeked from behind Roxas and slowly came forward, "Just how old are you anyway?" he asked. She thought for a minute. "I dunno, 10 I think" she guessed. Axel crossed his arms and tilted his head.

"You don't really remember, do you?" he asked. She shook her head. He sighed.

"Whatever, lets get going" he walked over to her and put his arms out. She fled to Roxas again.

"He's not going hurt you. At least he shouldn't unless he's some type of child mole-" "Roxas!" Axel shot at the laughing blond while blushing a little.

She hesitantly stepped forward and into Axel's arms. He quickly swung her up into his skinny arms, startling her.

Suddenly, something dropped from her shirt.

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**A/N:** Yep, this chapter probably wasn't as funny. I'll try to work on it some more as I go! Dirge is a character I've had in mind for quite some time, but you really can't rearrange her name into something that makes sense. I just kept it that way though it is probably very uncommon for a little girl to have the name Dirge (Peck Peck?).

**Random News Report on The Day the World Stood Chibi! : **BWHAHAHAHAHAAHA! I am nowhere! Nah, I'm actually in the void where normal things don't happen very often. But down to business! I am pooted out of ideas for now! That's right, my head has become empty for the moment (Writer's Block from Heck!), though I do have an idea for the final world/chapter, I don't think it's appropriate to speed there unless forced to.

Anyways! If you have a world or idea that you think would be cool and funny for the story, let me hear it! I'm open to most and a bundle of ideas as of the moment. You can leave them in a review of this story, The Day the World Stood Chibi, or you can just send them to me as a message. I'll credit you if I use for chapter, so start thinking up some ideas! Please and thank you!


	2. Just Want Some Sleep

"What the hell?!" Axel gasped in surprise.

"Where did that come from?" Roxas walked forward to them.

A black tail bushy tail had fallen from Dirge's shirt. She looked back at it and made it wag a little bit before turning back to Axel with embarrassment.

"What are you? Some type of puppy thing?" Axel brought her closer to his face.

"It's no big deal. It's actually kind of cute" Roxas felt it with his gloved hand. She shook her head and laid her head on Axel's shoulder.

"Whever. As long as it doesn't bother me at night" the redhead rolled his eyes.

"Wait a second? You're going to share your bed with her?" the blond stared at him wide eyed.

Axel looked at him like he was crazy. "Yeah, I guess I will" he answered, trying to make sense.

Roxas automatically snatched Dirge away from him and took several steps back with a horrified look.

"It's not like I'm gonna-" Axel stepped forward, but Roxas stepped back again. "C'mon I'm-" he stepped forward again, but Roxas stepped back and made a whining sound, like Cheese. "Roxas!" he stepped even closer, but Roxas flailed his arms pressed up against the wall. "You pedophile!" Roxas pointed. "Can we just go to my room already?" number 8 groaned.

"Fine" Roxas handed her over to Axel.

"Hold on to me, okay?" he told her as he held her tight. She nodded and squeezed the chest part of his jacket. The redhead immediately gasped in pain.

"What's wrong?" Roxas came from the wall. Axel winced as he tried to give an angry smile.

"She just grabbed my nipples" he shut one eye and twitched the other. Roxas burst out laughing.

"Whatever" Axel angrily disappeared in a corridor.

The trip was worse than the one he took to enter the meeting room and possibly the worst he would ever take. Dirge screamed the entire way into Axel's ear as they went for the crest feet first. The gusts of wind failed to throw her screams back into her throat and relieve Axel of his ear pain.

'You've got to be kidding me!' he thought as he tried to restrain himself from yelling at her though the urge was crawling up his throat. The trip finally ended as his feet touched the crest and the tunnel became upright. Dirge stopped screaming as his room appeared, but was gasping for air in panic.

"What is your problem!?" he looked to her, picking her off his nipples and setting her on his bed. She fell back on the bed and rolled over and hung onto the sheets, still trembling from the rush. 'You have _got _to be _kidding me_!" Axel rubbed his temples. Roxas appeared next to him and walked over to the bed.

"I guess she took the ride well" Roxas smiled sheepishly. Axel threw a pillow at him.

"Screamed the entire way. My ears almost fell off" he crossed his arms and sat next to her on the bed.

"Was the ride scary, Dirge?" the spikey haired boy walked over to her and leaned forward. With her face pressed against the bed, she nodded.

"You'll get used to it" Axel poked her butt and she made a surprise shriek from it. "I knew it!" Roxas pointed at him, making his friend raise an eyebrow.

"Axel," Dirge slowly let go of the sheets and sat up, looking to him, "I'm sorry for screaming" she held her plushie tight. He looked back at her and chuckled. "Forgiven. Just don't make a habit of it" he stretched his arms up in the air. Suddenly, a knock came at the door.

"What do you want?" Axel called as he looked back.

"Oh, that's welcoming, Axel. Real warmth in that greeting" Roxas sweatdropped.

"Just open the damn door!" Xaldin angrily called back. Sighing, Axel got up and walked over to the door, unlocking it.

"Everybody look away! Disaster area Xaldin's comin this way!" he covered his eyes with his arm as he opened the door. Xaldin growled threateningly.

"What's with the bag?" Roxas asked as Xaldin walked over to the bed.

"Xemnas forgot to give this to Dirge" he took out a little juice box, a mixed fruit cup, and a sandwich. "She probably hasn't eaten in a while, so he got these for her" he finished.

Dirge looked at the goodies she got and then nervously to Xaldin.

"Thank you" she answered. He smiled, sending a feel of disgust down her spine.

"Ew" she squinted. Roxas and Axel broke out laughing again as Xaldin calmly walked out of the room, but was clearly annoyed. Axel closed the door behind him and walked back over to the bed.

"Listen up, if you're going to eat in here, I don't want to find any crumbs in my bed or drinks stains on my sheets. Got it memorized?" he pointed to his head. She giggled a little and nodded, surprising Axel.

"Uh, good!" he took his spot back next to her, slipped off his boots, and laid back; Roxas doing the same on the other side of Dirge, trapping her in the middle. Axel flipped on the T.V. and relaxed with his little buddy as Dirge quietly ate.

-Later- It was about 11:35 at night when Axel finally finished watching T.V. Roxas stretched his arms out and got up. Dirge had crawled under the sheets earlier after throwing away her juice box and fruit cup, snuggling against her plushie and the pillow.

"Aww, she looks so cute!" Roxas pointed and whispered to Axel. His friend looked down at her and shrugged. "Whever" he took off his coat and tossed it onto the desk of his chair, slipping under the sheets.

"Don't forget to set your alarm clock for tomorrow" Roxas looked back as he walked towards the door with a small smile on his face, "you don't want to be late again, do you?"

"Maybe I do!" Axel pouted and pushed the alarm button on his clock. "Night" they both said in unison.

He made himself comfortable against his pillow and sighed, closing his emerald eyes. But in truth, he didn't feel _that_ comfortable. Dirge was turned the opposite way and her tail was brushing up against his back. He flipped over in the direction she was sleeping, only to feel her tail on his chest.

"Gosh" he sighed, obviously annoyed.

Removing the sheets, he sat up and looked at the problem. She slept peacefully and nuzzled closer to the pillow at the feeling of warmth removed.

"Hey" Axel whispered, poking her cheek. She didn't wake up.

"HEey" he tried again with obvious strain in his voice. Again, no wake up.

"Fine, be that way" he finally gave up and decided to take matters into his own hands.

Positioning her arms around her, he slowly and cautiously slipped them under her body; his right under her head and his left under her butt. Carefully, he slowly rolled her over onto her back. She tightened her eyes, but didn't wake up. Axel sighed in relief, even though her tail was still on his side, but he had an easy solution for that. Casually, he stuffed it under her by flattening the palm of his hand against the bed and scooting it under the sleeping girl, then returning the sheets over them.

"Problem solved!" Axel stretched and laid back on his pillow, laying on his left side towards the window. So it seemed his problem was solved...

A little later that same night, Axel was disturbed again. Pushing the pillow up to his head by his arms under the pillow, he felt something cold creep around his ear. Tightening his eyes to open them to a blink, he looked at his clock. 2:45, he groaned and thought 'What now?'

Bringing his arms out from under the pillow, he used them to hold himself up and looked over to Dirge. Blinking his eyes into focus, he finally saw what had caused the problem. At some point during the night, Dirge shifted her sleeping position from her back to laying on her front. Her head was still on the pillow while the rest of her body sloped down onto the rest of the bed, leaving most of her face out of the cushion, except for her mouth.

Axel sucked in the air through his teeth and felt the area where his head had laid to find out it was wet.

"Oh that's just sick!" he burst out, dashing out of the bed.

Dirge tightened her eyes again and finally opened them. Blinking, she could see a dark figure in front of the window, glaring quite annoyed at her with illuminating green eyes.

"Awake?!" Axel asked, strain returning to his voice as Dirge began to sit up in the bed. She nodded.

"Good, cause you're going to sleep somewhere else tonight!" he jumped onto the bed and into her face.

She put the plushie in front of her to widen the space between them. "W-why?" she asked, narrowing her eyes in fear.

"Why? Oh, it's nothing real big to ask why you drooled all over my pillow!" he picked up the pillow and shook it in her face.

"I'm sorry" she shut her eyes so she wouldn't have to see him.

Axel sighed and put his hand over his right eye. 'First night and I'm already tired of her' he growled in his mind as he closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

Understanding what she was told, Dirge quietly slipped out of the bed. She tried to make up the side of the bed that she had slept on before finally walking over to and out the door. Axel stopped and looked towards the door, forgetting she had been there. Then he looked to the rest of the bed.

"Finally!" he stretched again and flipped his pillow over and atomically bombed his head back onto it, a smile on his face.

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She clutched her plushie against her chest and gulped. The hallway was completely dark and she couldn't really see anything. Though she could swear that she could see several movements of someone...or something, in the darkness. What also made things worse, was that she hadn't had stopped by the restroom after she had finished that juice box, and she had to go. A bad combination.

At first, she thought about turning around and going back to Axel for help, but after his outburst to her, she exiled out the idea of bothering him again. She shut her eyes and made her way around which ever way she felt was "right." Holding her hand out against the wall, she felt her way along the hallway, hoping for a door or a knob, or something in braille so she could tell it was a restroom. Suddenly, she heard what sounded like the rubbing of glass next to her. Her closed eyes let in a little light as she opened her eyes to a silver filled room, shadows of bars cutting them into sections. Looking next to her, her hand lay on a glass window.

"Huh?" she looked out the window to see a giant heart shaped moon outside the window, its pale light shining into the room.

"Wow" she put both her hands on the window with her plushie in her arm, looking up at what was supposed to be an impossible myth hanging among the stars. 'I wonder what that is?' she thought. A sudden incoming sound made her jump.

Someone with unusual footsteps was coming her way. Realizing this, she backed up into the shadows and crouched down, hoping they wouldn't see her. Across the hall she could see a figure with a hunched back and a small head with some type of horn coming down from it along with a banner coming from under the head. Its arms were loose, although the shoulders were broad, and covered with spikes while its legs were hind and long with pointed feet.

It stopped and looked up, apparently sensing something, particularly Dirge, in the area. Following it, it started to walk towards her. Dirge was aware of this, but was too frozen in shock to get up and move. As it stepped into the moonlight, she could see more of it, the group crest on it's banner. That symbol was almost everywhere in the castle. A possible friend or ally?

Finally it stopped a few feet in front of her, apparently "looking" at her since she had noticed she couldn't really be sure if it had eyes. Blinking in hesitance, she stood up and walked into the light. It seemed unfazed. She put her hand out to it. It "looked" at it and then to her as if it didn't know what it was supposed to do with it. This was getting her nowhere. Drawing back her hand and gathering up all the bravery she had, she shut her eyes and...

"Do you know where the bathroom is? I have to go to the potty!" she blurted out, opening her eyes at the first word. She felt relieved she could finally ask the question she was dying to get an answer to.

It looked at her again and lifted its arm to the way it had come from. She looked behind it to see a patch of darkness between the windows she was at and the next before seeing nothing but beyond that point. Her arms were beginning to squeeze the life out of the plushie. Suddenly, it got on one knee and opened its arms to her. She looked at it, dumbfounded at what it was doing, but the way it did it reminded her of someone. Nodding she walked into its arms. It swiftly brought her up and began to dash down the hallway. Then, like a seal, phasing into the floor and "swimming" across the floor; between that level and the one below it. Dirge not only felt the urge to go, but also to technoyawn at the motion of repeatedly going up and down.

At last, it stopped between the floors and stuck its feet up first so that they hung upside down. Dirge could feel it now, closely coming up to her throat. Then it abruptly shot the rest of its body up through the floor and descended onto the ground. Setting her down, it pointed to the sign on the door in front of them; a stick figure with an "X" going through the chest, wearing a skirt. Oddly enough, she understood this.

"Thank you" she nodded and walked in. Sweet relief.

A few moments later, she came back out. A smile was on her face and her nervousness had diminished. The Nobody was still outside, waiting for her to be done. It looked to her and tilted its head, somewhat asking what her next order would be.

"Is there anywhere I can sleep?" she looked up to it, her voice small. It turned its head down the hallway to more darkness. She winced, obviously not wanting to go through the floor and back all over again. Instead, she took the end of its arm and looked up to it.

"Can we walk?" she asked. It looked down to her and made what looked like a shrug before leading the way.

They walked into the darkness together, passing the other officers doors. She had the feeling it was good not to bother asking if she could sleep with them since they were all probably asleep. It lead her up a couple of stairs to the next floor where it was completely filled with the moon's light from the windows. They stopped in front of a glass door and it looked down to her, asking her to turn the knob, for it had no hands. Reaching up, she turned it and pushed it open.

Walking outside, there was a collage of different Queen of the Nights circling the edges of the deck. The flower man's doing. In the middle stood a cushioned lawn chair, a blanket laying on it. Dirge walked over to it and examined it before climbing onto it. It was soft against her body and more than enough for her to sleep on. The Nobody walked up next to her and tilted its head, asking how it was.

"It's very nice. Do you want to sleep here too?" she turned to it, asking with the sweetest smile. It shook its head, giving an obvious answer.

"Okay. Thank you for bringing me here" she laid back and pets its head. It shuddered as it felt her hand on its head, confused, but enjoying what seemed to be right. When she stopped, it shrugged and disappeared in a mix of white and black light.

Dirge yawned and turned on her side, closing her eyes as she laid on the star decorated lawn chair.

* * *

**A/N:** Yep. Dirge would be you typical shy kid around new people. She's not really supposed to say a lot, but she will in future chapters. But yeah, she will nod a lot in the future along with the others chuckling and yelling a lot.


	3. You Did What?

He slept peacefully, the silence of his room filling his mind with tranquility. Nuzzling his face into his pillow, he sighed in content. The feeling of having his bed all to himself, the idea of not worrying what else could happen, and to have a dry pillow was simply intoxicating to him...Until a constant beeping went off in his mind.

Growling, he opened his eyes to see his alarm clock beeping that it was 7:00 in the morning, a red and green light flashing on the top of the clock.

"Great" he sighed, and sat up. Looking at the clock, he hit the alarm button to turn off the sound and stretched his arms out.

Sitting up, he fell backwards and groaned; he wanted to sleep some more. As he tried to close his eyes again, he felt something wrong. Moving his arms over the bed, he felt something was missing and shot back up. Looking at the bed, he remembered what was gone.

"Dirge!" he called in his room. No answer. He called again with the same answer; none.

"Xemnas is going to kill me" he cringed. Trying to keep his cool, he looked around the room for her. Under his bed, in the bathroom, the closet, and even in his dresser he found nothing. Just why would she be in there?

"Okay, Axel. Don't freak out, she's around here somewhere. She couldn't have gotten too far" he tried to calm himself down, but felt it was impossible. If he didn't find her, he would surely face the wrath of his hilariously anagramed leader.

'Just finish getting ready before going freak out mode' he thought as he went into the bathroom.

He did as he had planned and walked out of the bathroom to still find no trace of her. "Crap" he winced.

Down the hall, a blond had already gotten up. Turning off the faucet, he stepped out of the shower stall, towel around his waist, and opened the door.

"That felt good" he smiled as he walked over to his bed where his coat and underclothing was laid out just as someone burst open his door...

"Roxy! Is Dirge in here?" Axel shouted in panic.

Roxas looked at him with a look of "creeped out" on his face.

They stood staring at each other for a while, before Roxas finally spoke up.

"Excuse me! A little privacy here!" he turned the front part of his body around.

"Yeah, nice ass Roxy. Now have you seen Dirge or not?" Axel asked in a sped voice.

"Well, no, not recently. Wait-why're you asking?" Roxas turned back towards him suspiciously. Something was up.

Axel scratched his hair a little and sighed, trying to find a way to break it to him. "Dirge...kinda escaped from my room last night and-"

"You lost her" Roxas finished for him.

"I didn't _lose _her, I just told her to lea-"

"You kicked her out!?" Roxas looked at him in disbelief. Now that was just cruel.

"NO! I just-forget it" Axel gave up trying to explain what had happened and left down the hall.

Roxas quickly slipped on all his clothes and ran out the door to follow his friend as he zipped up his jacket.

"You only had her for one night! What did you do?" Roxas asked as he caught up with his friend. How hard could taking care of a sleeping little girl be?

"Hey! She drooled all over my pillow!" Axel stopped and pointed at him.

"That's exactly the same thing you did when I woke up and found you sleeping next to me last week!" the blond stopped and stomped his foot.

Axel blushed with red before turning back to finding her, Roxas following after him.

"You better hope you find her before the meeting which is in...10 minutes!" Roxas looked at a clock on the wall.

"Don't worry, _we _will!" Axel said as he stopped. Roxas stopped not too far behind him and cringed, slowly turning his foot to run when Axel teleported behind him and grabbed his wrist.

"No! No! Noooooooo!" Roxas whined as Axel dragged him down the hall.

"We're both going to find her together!" the redhead looked back at his friend.

"But you're the one who lost her!" Roxas cried as he stumbled along.

"Axel lost who now?" a voice called from behind. The two stopped and turned around to see Demyx closing his room door.

"Dirge" Roxas answered before Axel covered his mouth, but Demyx got it all.

"Xemnas is going to cut out your guts" the nocturne pointed childishly.

"_Really? You don't think I _KNOW!" Axel yelled as he uncovered Roxas' mouth and started to drag his boy toy along.

"Know what?" Xigbar came up on the other side. Axel let out an irritated cry and brushed past him, dragging a flailing Roxas behind him.

"What's up with them?" Xigbar looked over to the approaching Demyx. "Axel lost Dirge somehow" he shrugged.

"OOooooh...He's so toast" the eyepatched man laughed.

Axel and the now cooperating Roxas strutted down the hallway, looking around for any trace that Dirge had passed by. So far nothing had come up, but he could feel they were somewhat on the right track.

"Why don't you ask who was on night patrol last night?" Roxas asked as he crossed his arms.

"Who was on night patrol last night, Roxy?" Axel stopped and turned to him. Roxas cupped his hand on his chin and thought. "Exactly" his friend continued.

"Maybe she went to Xemnas' room?" Roxas guessed as he followed his friend.

"That is the last place I want to check" Axel shuddered. It wasn't just because he was afraid Dirge would be in there, but also because he had seen Saix go in there one night and hadn't come out until early the next day. Freaky things were going on in that room. Freak-e things.

Just then, Larxene walked out of her room to see the boys walk by. She crossed her arms and watched them pay no mind to her.

"Well, well, well, aren't we up early to do something nasty in the arena" she smirked. Roxas stopped and choked while Axel tried to hide a smile on the fact that he liked the sound of doing that with Roxas.

"We are not! We're looking for Dirge!" Roxas turned around with a tomato red face.

"Yeesh, Roxy! Just tell everybody your life's story why not?" Axel smacked the back of his friend's head.

"You lost the brat?" Larxene stepped back a little from the news she had just received. That was a little surprising.

Larxene stood in astonishment until a smirk crawled onto her lips. A threatening chill shot up Axel's spine as he saw this and knew what she was about to do. Real childish of her. Playfully, she swung around on one foot and recrossed her arms behind her head. Axel felt his hands tighten into fists and adrenaline spreading throughout his body. Roxas didn't feel anything cause he didn't know what was about to happen, but he knew it was _something._

"Hmph" Larxene chuckled and darted down the hallway. Axel darted down after her, dragging Roxas by the hood who was now trying to keep his coat from being a murder weapon.

The nymph looked behind herself to see Axel not to far behind. Clutching her fist, she summoned her knives. Those would slow him down if not kill him first. Jumping, she turned around and threw them in his direction. The knives coming towards him, he dodged them all, except for one scratching his cheek. Unfortunately for the blond, he was not able to dodge any, and two got caught in his hair, another in his shoulder, and the last in his barely scratched his cheek as well. Frowning, Larxene sped up.

Down the hallway, some of the other members were walking up the hallway. 'Perfect' she thought and darted straight for them. Using the power of lightning, she flashed right by them, leaving them confused of WTF she was running from until they looked down the hall at the approaching redhead. Vexen drew out his shield.

"Going somewhere, number 8?" he asked, smacking the shield in front of Axel and blocking his way. Axel fell to his knees and looked up angrily at him.

"What are you doing now?" Zexion looked down at him, a book in his hand.

"Get outta the way, Vexen!" he got up and tried to push Vexen out of the way, but his shield held strong.

"Perhaps you should try explaining first before we let you pass?" Luxord crossed his arms and leaned against  
the wall. Roxas wanted to answer, but he was too worn out to speak.

"She's gonna tell, Xemnas! Move!" Axel ignored them and tried to get by again. At that speed, she could be at Xemnas' door in a matter of seconds.

"Tell Xemnas what?" Zexion asked calmly as he crossed his arms.

Suddenly the intercom beeped. It was too late.

"Attention all members. It seems our new member is lost and somewhere around the castle. This is an order to spread out and look for her. And Axel," Xemnas stopped; Axel winced, "I'd like to see you the dining room, now" he finished.

The others looked from the intercom to Axel.

"You lost Dirge?!" Zexion shouted. He rarely did that which came as a surprise.

"I didn't lose her! She left my room last night!" the fire dancer tried to explain.

"She must've left for a reason? What did you do?" Luxord asked, narrowing his eyes.

"She drooled on his pillow, so he told her to leave" Roxas said, crossing his arms and looking up to him after he got the last knife out of him. Might as well tell them what happened since the secret was out.

"You're pathetic number 8" Vexen sighed, putting the shield away with a look of disgust.

"Well you're old, but you don't see a lot of us complaining, do you?" Axel made a point. Luxord and Zexion coughed and turned away a little bit. The Chilly Academic closed his eyes as he felt a vein getting ready to pop in his head.

"I believe Xemnas gave us an order" he said with the most obvious strained and teleported with the others.

"Great" Axel sighed as he let go of Roxas' hood. The blond dusted himself off and turned to his friend.

"Going to Xemnas?" he asked. Axel nodded sadly. "Lead the way" he hooked his arm around Axel's.

His friend stared in amazement and gave a happy smile that frightened his friend. "Don't get any ideas" Roxas narrowed his eyes.Together, they disappeared in a corridor of darkness.

As they were thrown in the air, Axel could feel his organs crawling up to his throat, not because of the ride, but nervousness. There had to be a way to explain what happened to Xemnas. By the way Roxas had done it seemed to make him seem like a criminal. Not to mention what Xemnas would do to him after explaining it. And just where did the little girl wander off to that night? And was she okay? She seemed too young to be wandering around on her own, especially in the darkness of unfamiliar territory. They eventually arrived at their destination where Xemnas was sitting at the head of the table, elbows on the table and hands crossed.

"Good morning, your superiorness" Axel greeted nervously and sarcastically.

"Sit down!" Xemnas' voice boomed like thunder. Axel immediately sat down in a chair with Roxas by his side.

"I can't believe you lost our newest member!" Xemnas shot up from his seat. So what was the point of Axel sitting down?

"Everybody jump to conclusions" he sighed as he laid his head on his hand. He knew for sure there was no easy way to explain himself now. Out with the truth, plain and simple.

"Just what exactly happened last night?" the Superior sat back down and tried to calm down.

"I told her to leave because she drooled on my pillow" Axel answered casually. The truth was out to several of the members so there was no real point in giving Xemnas formal treatment when he said it.

Xemnas looked at him with a look that said "How could you?" and shook his head in shame. "You're just lucky I don't beat you right here and that I sent several Sorcerers out to look for her. I'm letting you off easy" he glared at him.

Just then, one of the Sorcerers appeared with something moving in it's sleeve. Putting its arm out on the table, Dirge rolled out of the sleeve and onto the table, stopping in front of Xemnas. Xemnas nodded to it and it disappeared in a flash of black and white.

"Good morning" she smiled even though her lips were hidden behind her plushie. Xemnas smiled a little and pet her head.

"Axel, don't you have something to say to her?" Xemnas asked him. Dirge turned around to see the two boys behind her.

The fire dancer nodded and got up, walking towards the girl, and stopping when he was right next to her. He did seem a little cruel last night, not to mention doing the same action while sleeping with Roxas. Yet she just did as she was told and left. She needed an apology; she deserved an apology.

"Axel wants to apologize to you on how he acted last night, don't you Axel?" Xemnas said through his teeth as he looked at the lower officer.

The redhead looked down to the little girl and sighed. "I'm sorry for kicking you out of my room last."

"And?" Xemnas pursued.

"_And _I was hoping you'd accept my apology" Axel continued on. Dirge blinked then nodded. "Apology accepted, and," she stood up and stepped closer to Axel, "I'm sorry too" she apologized.

"What're you apologizing for? Axel's the one who kicked you out" Roxas pointed at Axel who gave him an annoyed look.

"If I hadn't done all that stuff, I wouldn't have woken you up and made me leave. You wouldn't be in trouble" she explained as she shook her hips, moving the tail Xemnas now noticed.

"She's a smart kid, Axel" Roxas looked up to his friend with a warm smile. Axel sighed, that was true; for her to understand her cause in the action she must be.

"You apologize too much, but apology accepted" he smiled down to her.

She suddenly darted at him and hugged his abdominal area. He looked at her in confusion, then to Xemnas who gave him a threatening to look that told him to hug her back. Nervously, he put his arms around her and hugged her as well.

"Now that that's settled. Dirge I have something for you" Xemnas unscooted the chair next to him and picked something up. She let go of Axel and walked up to him as he showed her what he had in his hands.

"It should fit you" he held the black coat up to her. She looked down to it and then up to Xemnas.

"I didn't even know you could make child sizes out of these things" Roxas looked down at his own jacket.

"I didn't think she could get a jacket" Axel looked at her as he leaned on the table.

"I didn't know she had a tail. Why didn't you tell me she had one?" Xemnas drew the coat back and looked towards the young officers.

"We just sorta found out by accident. We're still wondering how she got it" Roxas poked at the bushel of long black fur coming from under Dirge's shirt.

"How did you-" "She apparently doesn't have a whole lot of memory either, so I wouldn't bother asking" Axel stopped Xemnas before he could finish his question, "We asked her how old she was and she doesn't seem to really remember since she had to guess."

"Well, that's okay. Her memory will come to her eventually" the Superior crossed his arms with the jacket in his hands.

"While the topic of Dirge is up, what element does she wield anyway?" Roxas ruffled Dirge's hair.

"I don't really know yet. She hasn't been in battle before so I've never seen it" Xemnas answered as he looked to the two young people.

"Then we'll just have to see for ourselves" Axel sighed as he took a seat.

"I doubt soon though; she's not really ready to go into battle just yet, is she?" Roxas looked to his superior who nodded in response. Dirge looked up at him and shrugged. In no way did she look battle ready.

"Since we probably used up the meeting time, I guess I'll call the others to breakfast" Xemnas sighed as he turned around to the direction of his room, walking up the small stair levels that squared the room leaving the three Nobodies to themselves.

Axel took a seat and sighed as he set his head in the palm of his hand. He didn't really have to do a whole lot; he was out of the clear. Roxas took the seat next to him and smiled to Dirge.

"So, just where did you go last night?" Axel asked as he poked Dirge's cheek. She crossed her arms and thought while looking up at the ceiling.

"I left your room and went down the hallway; I was trying to look for the bathroom" she shifted her gaze to him.

Roxas sighed and scratched the back of his head, "I guess neither us nor Xemnas really gave you a tour around the castle, not that it'd be that useful in the dark" he explained. Dirge shook her head.

"But it's okay, I found the bathroom with a little help" she smiled up to him.

"A little help? Everybody was knocked out. Who could've helped you at that hour?" Axel put his hand down and leaned closer to her. Only the Nobodies they had sent out would be awake patrolling the halls and rooms.

"A thing man found me and helped me get to the bathroom" she pointed to the ceiling since she had come up with the answer.

"A thing man?" Roxas laid back in his chair. He was interested in hearing this since it sounded somewhat imaginary.

The little officer nodded. "It had long arms and legs, a horn, strong shoulders, a skinny body, and it swam in the floor" Dirge waved her arms frantically as she described it.

"Swam through the floor huh? Sounds like one of your Assassin Nobodies, Axel" Roxas crossed his arm and looked to his friend. He also crossed his arms and nodded. No other Nobody could do what his Assassin's could.

"Now I remember. I sent a couple out to patrol the Castle. It must've sensed you as an officer and wanted to see what you were up to" Axel explained as he looked to her with a small smile.

"Officer? I'm no officer" she shook her head at the word.

She had just joined Organization XIII last night. Her power was still unknown and it didn't seem like she had a weapon yet much less the potential to wield one. She didn't even know what qualified her to be one. There was no possible way she was an officer yet.

"Well, technically you are, but think of it more as being an officer-in-waiting" Roxas explained to her, gently messing with her hair. She giggle, enjoying her hair to be ruffled up without even caring how messy it would get.

"Anything else happen earlier this morning?" Axel asked as he stretched his legs out under the table.

"The thing man led me to a balcony upstairs. There was a lawn chair I could sleep on out there" she explained some more.

"Here that Axel? She went from your comfortable warm bed, to a lawn chair outside on one of the highest balconies" Roxas leaned closer to the Nobody next to him, trying to fill him with more guilt for making her leave.

The Nobody frowned at and closed his eyes, irritated, "I know that Roxas. Don't rub it in" he said through gritted teeth.

"That's about it. Another thing man picked me up while I was sleeping and brought me here" Dirge finished her story as she eyed the room.

"Looks like you had an interesting night" Roxas leaned forward on an elbow and smirked in amusement. She smiled as a "yes" answered.

"Well, now you get to observe the madness of this entire Castle" Axel through his hand up and brought it back down.

Roxas sighed in shame, "Nothing's completely normal here." Axel patted his back and smiled to him before turning back to Dirge.

"To start off with," he picked her up as Roxas stood up and moved to the empty seat next to him, "breakfast" he placed her between the Destiny's Key and himself.


	4. Our First Breakfast

Bleh! I forgot to put this in the last chapter, but oh well. Yes peeps! I am back from the graaaaave! Due to a summer trip and the computer issues after we got back, I was unable to upload any more chapters for this story. But now that everything is working again, I can continue on! But I also have school to deal with as well, so I don't exactly know when I'll be able to update the chapters. Do enjoy it as you read though!

**Disclaimer: **If you still think I own KH, you must be insane in the membrane! ...I don't. Square does.

* * *

As the three Nobodies sat in the dining room, Xemnas had returned with silverware, plates, cups, and napkins after canceling the search for Nobody to the others, but telling them to wait a little bit as he got the table set. Luckily for him, he had three people already at the table who were free to do anything. He pushed the breakfast supplies towards them, motioning them to do what they thought was right with the items. Then he walked back in the direction of the kitchen. The three went around the table setting everything; Roxas the plates, Dirge the cups, and Axel the silverware and napkins. The older Nobodies watched as Dirge set the cups in a pattern; first using her own hand and then putting a cup in the paws of her moogle plushie and having it set on the table. Roxas smiled to Axel who sighed and hung his head, a small smile on his lips.

Within minutes after setting the table, one by one the other members appeared and took their seats. Axel obviously noticed glares and smirks he was getting by the other members as they took their seats while Dirge received small smiles and waves which she responded back the same way.

"So Axel, how much trouble are you in?" Larxene sat down with a smirk marked on her lips. This was going to be grand.

Seeing this, Axel also let out a smirk to counter hers. Dirge had been found and they had both apologized for their mistakes. Looking at Larxene, he felt he had nothing to fear. With the same look as hers on Axel's face, Larxene felt somewhat uncomfortable about what was about to happen. He shouldn't be smirking, he should look upset or worried. Axel had just gotten in trouble, he had no right.

"Looks like Xemnas is letting me off the hook. All I had to do was apologize, and little Dirgey here accepted" the redhead ruffled her hair, Dirge giggling at the play.

"What? But you let a little kid wander around the Castle in the dark alone!" she shot up, slamming her hand down on the table, shaking it as the others watched.

"Well it seems like both Dirge and Xemnas are okay with her forgiving me. Plus she wasn't really alone. The little piece of me was helping her find her way" he winked down to Dirge who giggled some more.

"You mean the Assassins that act like they're on crack" she crossed her arms and let out a small chuckle.

Axel brushed his shoulder with his hand, as if dusting off the weak comeback she had thrown at him. She frowned.

"Must've been pretty smart to understand what she wanted" he tilted his head in a playful manner.

"Enough already" Zexion called from his seat as he flipped through the pages of his book.

Dirge tapped on Roxas' shoulder arm to get his attention. "Who's that?" she pointed to Larxene.

"Oh, they didn't really get a chance to introduce themselves earlier did they?" Roxas slapped his forehead and dragged it down his face.

"Hey, listen up" he stood up and snapped his fingers several times.

"And just why should we?" the pink haired man called from his seat, playing with a rose petal between his fingers.

"Because I'm not the guy with the girly scythe" Roxas pointed at him, making Marluxia shoot an upset look at him. Muffled laughters came from the members as all eyes turned to the second youngest member of the group.

"Dirge just got here yesterday and I don't think any of you were able to introduce yourselves properly to her. So why not do this now?" he asked as he looked at all the members around the table.

"That's an excellent idea Roxas" Saix nodded from his seat and stood up.

It was rude to not give an introduction in Saix's mind. Noticing that the other members were still seated, he let out a low irritated growl to let them know he wanted them up now. Immediately, they shot up from their seats nervously in hopes that they would irritate him further more. He smiled at his ability to "make people do what he wanted."

"Name's Xigbar. I'm second in the Organization. So if you gotta a problem, don't come to me, go to Xemnas cause there's a chance I won't want to deal with it" he sat back down and leaned back in his chair, boots propped up on the table.

"My name is Xaldin, third in command," he looked around and shrugged, "hi" he sat back down.

"Gosh! Why're you guys doing it in order? This isn't the Mickey Mouse Club!" Larxene crossed her arms and sighed with obvious irritation.

"Fine! My name's Marluxia. If you want to live, then don't make _fun _of _my hair_ and my _feminine side!_" the Graceful Assassin said, straining on his words as he looked at Roxas.

"My name is Vexen. Please stay out of my lab AXEL!" he slammed his hand down on the table as he shot a look at Axel, who gave him a fake surprised look.

"Why're looking at me? You're supposed to be looking at her idiot" he pointed to the little girl next to him.

"Yet you're the one who's always messing with my experiments" Vexen mumbled as he sat back down and crossed his arms like an upset child who had candy taken from him.

"Lexaeus" the tall, broad man coughed out before sitting back down in silence.

"Saix. If you ever get into trouble or feel uncomfortable around any of the other members, you can come find me" he smiled to her as he made a small bow.

"Don'tdoit" Axel coughed into his fist, Saix growling at him as he sat down.

"My name's Demyx and I like pie and play the sitar!" the mullet like haired man smiled.

"Who doesn't like pie?" Axel shot him a smile.

"The name's Luxord. If you ever want to be beat in a game of poker, let me know" he held out his cards and smirked.

"Don't go to him. He gets drunk easily and gives beatings all around, plus he cheats" Roxas whispered to Dirge as the light blond haired man sat down.

"My name's Larxene you little brat! Keep out of my room, don't touch me, and keep outta my way!" the blond haired girl with antennae like spikes yelled as she pointed at her. A loud growl came from the corner of the table. Saix was snarling in her direction, warning her to sit down and act right or take her anger up with his beastly wrath. Not showing her fright, Larxene slowly sat down as she sighed in annoyance.

"Zexion. If you need something let me know, but first," the dark haired officer set down his book and scooted his chair back, "I need something from you."

Dirge tilted her head in confusion and looked up to Roxas who gave her a small shrug. Suddenly, Zexion jumped across the table in her direction, knocking over her chair but not touching any of the glass or silverware on the table. Roxas and Axel automatically shot out of their chairs in surprise. While trying to get Zexion off of the little soldier, several of the other members stood up, alarmed about the sudden action. Dirge flailed her arms excitedly and giggled as Zexion tickled her.

"I knew it! You're _all _pedophiles!" Roxas pointed at almost everybody at the table.

"Roxas, calm down" Zexion called from below. He was calming down and holding her gently.

"Oh, so that's what you were doing" Axel let go of Zexion's coat.

Slowly, the Cloaked Schemer stood up with Dirge in his arms, Dirge starting to calm down in his arms. Oddly, the officer put his face to her neck...and sniffed. She giggled again at the feel, her tail wagging happily.

"Alright then. What I needed was your scent. That way I can tell where you are and have been" he picked up her chair and set her back down.

All watched in confusion and shock as Zexion calmly walked back to his seat and picked up his book, unfazed and unaware of the looks his fellow members were giving him.

"You're a freak, Zexion"

"Shut up, bitch"

Roxas sighed, wishing they wouldn't cuss around Dirge, but they probably wouldn't be able to go long without letting out a good swear right in front of her. It would be no use, she would have to endure the swearing.

"Woah, where'd the tail come from?" Demyx asked, remembering the wagging tail on the little girl.

Everybody froze and looked toward Dirge. She looked around in confusion and tilted her head again.

"What're you guys freaking out about? It's just a little tail" Axel picked Dirge up, exposing her tail. She wagged it again before being set back down.

"That's abnormal" Vexen leaned forward to get a better look.

"Looks cute enough to pet" Marluxia smiled.

"Is she some type half breed puppy thing?" Luxord raised any eyebrow.

"Ew! If she craps like a dog, I don't want her anywhere near me!" Larxene pretended to gag.

"Leave her alone Larxene. She's still a kid" Zexion glared at her.

"Still, I don't want to be the one to rip another tail off a dog"

At that, Dirge was starting to shrink into her seat. Just the idea made her sick. Axel noticed this and quickly picked her up while petting her head and glaring at Larxene.

"Poor Chi Chi!" Xaldin began to sob.

"Larxene! Will you just shut the hell up?" Xigbar shot at her.

"It looks cute. I love it" Saix hid a smirk behind his hand, a strange glint in his eyes.

"Still, just keep that brat mutt thing away from me" Larxene ignored the others comments.

"That's the same thing we say about you, but you don't seem to get a clue, do you?" Axel shot up in Dirge's defense, a sense of anger building in his chest.

Dirge looked around in confusion, huddling up next to Roxas who held her against his side.

"Enough!" Saix barked, his eyes glowing a deep yellow as he shot out of his chair. All conversations stopped as Saix eyed almost everyone around the table.

"I will not have this going on about her. Larxene," he turned to the Savage Nymph trying to shrink down into her chair, "if you're going to act this way then take it up with Xemnas, but you _do not _talk or act in such a way to Dirge" he growled.

Nervously, she nodded and tried to shrink more into her chair. It was best just to agree and do whatever Saix said whenever he was angry in order to avoid being ripped to pieces. Calming himself down, Saix sat back down and calmly waited for Xemnas.

"What he said" Xigbar pointed to the blue haired man, proving how lazy he was when it came to other people's problems.

"I heard some ruckus in here so I'm going to guess that you all really want breakfast" Xemnas rolled in with a food cart with several trays and pitches morning drinks on it.

The room went quiet as a few stomachs rumbled, surprising Dirge enough to make her jump.

"I thought so" Xemnas sighed and closed his eyes.

Within minutes, all the members were enjoying some pancakes, a few slices of bacon, an egg, and a glass of milk or orange juice. Axel looked next to him to see that Dirge was eating a little slower than the others. She was holding onto her plushie tightly in one arm, while slowly eating with the other. Her tail was pointing straight out behind her through the hole in the chair. Carefully, he put her hand on her back. Surprised, she jumped a little and looked up at him.

"You okay?" he whispered as he leaned down a little.

"Uh huh" she nodded.

"Are you sure?" he asked, putting his forehead to hers.

She looked to the side and shrugged. "I feel a little...weird" she answered.

"Well, that's probably being around Xaldin for this long soaking in or your body getting a little used to being heartless" he put the back of his hand to her chest, no heart beat within it.

"Okay" she smiled and they both got back to eating breakfast.

Finally finishing their breakfast, the high ranked Nobodies walked one by one into the kitchen and set their dishes into the dishwasher. Both Axel and Roxas waited until Dirge was finished eating before taking their plates into the kitchen and setting them in the dishwasher. Together, the trio walked down the hallway once they were done.

"So now what?" Dirge asked, looking up to Axel for answers.

"Now we move on to the next part of the day. Battle practice" he looked down to her as he crossed his arms behind his back.

"Battle practice?" she repeated his answer.

"Yeah, we have to practice so that we can build up our strength and power almost twice a week" Roxas explained.

"Is it fun?" the little girl asked as she put the plushie on her head.

"Only if you're one of the sadistic sick minded people who enjoy causing other people pain and misery" Roxas rushed through his words with obvious disgust, shivers crawling up his spine.

"Or one of the people who actually want to gain more power and strength by battling others" Axel put in on a lighter note as he looked down at her.

"If you don't mind bullets being shot into your butt, blades scratching you up, being burnt to a crisp, having some weapon lodged in your back, picking up 52 giant cards, or just being bed ridden the rest of the day" Roxas returned the darkside to the conversation.

"It doesn't sound very fun" Dirge shook her head as she looked up at him with a bit of fear.

"And that's why you're going to be watching us from the sidelines. You won't get hurt or involved that way and you can watch me beat up little Garage Keys here" number 8 set his hand on number 13's head who was showing obvious dislike of it.

"You're not going to hurt him a lot are you?" Dirge looked up to them with worry.

Roxas opened his mouth to talk, but Axel slapped his hand on his head again and beat him to the answer. "It'll only _look_ like Roxas is getting hurt a lot. He's really okay though" he winked to her while Roxas shuddered.

"Well, okay!" she quickly agreed, a smile returning to her face.

"You're horrible. Lying to a little kid" Roxas growled through his teeth while his lips formed a fake smile.

"It's not _lying_ if I'm actually telling her the truth, Roxy" Axel ruffled his hair as they neared the arena door.

* * *

Thanks for reading this Chapter! An update should come sometime soon! Please Review!


	5. Battle Time!

Good grief...I have not updated in forever. What's wrong with me!? I tell ya what's wrong with me; school and laziness is what's wrong with me! I should be typing stories! Not writing essays! Power to the pancake! ...So I'll try and update some more. I already have several chapters of this in stock, but I just haven't got to proofreading them yet. I'm also hoping to slip in a Halloween Town chapter too. We'll see what happens.

Oh, and I still don't own Kingdom Hearts, so bleh!

* * *

"Wooooooah" Dirge gasped as she looked up at the battle arena.

It was amazing to her to see such an arena in the Castle; it was more like a stadium. Then again, it came to no surprise that a gigantic Castle held such extensive rooms. Above hung several blinding lights from the ceiling and at the top of the stairs. Along the walls, seats were lined up around the room, two booths on each side; one above the entrance, the other opposite of the entrance. On the ground were patches of green and bare ground. Not too far from the entrance doors was a built-in refrigerator and a bench, a rest station.

"Pretty cool huh?" Roxas looked down to her. She nodded, still in astonishment as she gazed around.

"Don't know how Xemnas was able to do it, but he got this place in here" Axel walked over to the fridge.

Roxas picked Dirge up and set her on the bench, then taking a seat next to her while the redhead rummaged through the cooler box behind them.

"So this is where you all fight?" she asked, still glancing around the stadium.

"Yep, this is the place where we get beat up and bleed to-" Axel stopped as Roxas slapped his butt. That was not rated G.

"Ow! Do that again, Roxy!" Axel smirked seductively to him.

"NO!" Roxas looked at him in disgust and tried to wipe his hand on his jacket to get rid of the feeling of Axel's ass.

"Yes, Dirge. This is where we fight" he turned back to the black haired child next to him who was setting her moogle down next to her.

Just then, the man with the eyepatch walked in with a bag in his hand, propped over his shoulder. He whistled as he walked in and turned to the left in the direction of the trio.

"Yo, what's up?" he asked as he walked over to the fridge, Axel taking a seat next to Dirge.

"The same thing that's always up when we're in here" Roxas watched him walk from his side to the other.

"Just asking. Xemnas asked me to pick these up last night" the second in command officer opened his bag and the fridge.

Dirge watched him curiously from behind as Xigbar stocked the fridge with energy drinks, sodas, and fruit juice. A question formed in her mind as she saw him and her instinct somewhat urged her to ask, but to be careful asking it.

"Xigbar?" she started out.

"Yo?" he answered, putting in the last of the drinks.

"How did you lose your eye and get all those scars?" she asked, her voice small in a way that she didn't want to offend.

The man looked up and slowly stood as he closed the fridge door. Axel and Roxas looked at each other with pink faces and tight lips, trying hard to suppress an outburst of laughter. Dirge looked between the both of them in confusion. Just what was so funny?

"Um, well..." Xigbar turned around and scratched his head. "Luxord had given him several drinks" Roxas desperately tried to hold back his laughter as he turned to Dirge. "And he went into Larxene's room" Axel was letting out cracks of laughter.

Xigbar sighed, "Guuuys" he said with strain on his words, a small vein visible on his temple.

"He put on some of Larxene's underwear on his head and pants" Roxas began to hold his sides as the upcoming outburst was gnawing at his sides for escape.

"And when she came in" Axel started, but couldn't finish as they both burst out into laughter. Axel fell backwards on the bench and Roxas completely fell off the bench. Dirge watched the both of them crack up, then back up to the one-eyed man. He shrugged and decided to finish the rest for Axel.

"Larxene saw me with her underwear and decided it was a good idea for some reason to completely murder my face" he sighed in annoyance as he watched the two boys enjoying themselves.

"She was so pissed!" Axel said trying to catch his breath as he and Roxas began to calm down.

"And I lost my eye," Xigbar started, but stopped as the two fell back again to laugh again, "when Xaldin was trying to open this can of black eyed peas with an old fashion can opener for some reason. It slipped from his hands and I just happen to be in the area right when it lodged itself in my eye. Stupid black eye peas" he finally finished, the boys' laughter getting louder.

"Except you got more than a black eye!" Roxas pointed. "Cans aren't the only things it can open!" Axel laughed with a pink face. "Poor Xigbar" Dirge turned around and hugged him. Surprised, Xigbar looked down to the little girl and pat her head, not completely sure of what to do while the boys finally contained themselves enough to sit back up.

"No harm done" he smiled down to her as she looked up to him. Opening the fridge, he took out a plastic bottle of apple juice for her. "First one's for you" he set it on her hands.

"Yay! Thank you!" she smiled up to him.

"Heh, you're too cute" he pet her head then turned to the two boys. "You two are buttheads" he pointed before walking out the door.

"Can't help it if his tragedies are hilarious" Axel shrugged.

"We can talk about how hilarious peoples' lives are later. Lets warm up" Roxas stood up from the bench.

Dirge watched as the two Nobodies took several steps out and began to stretch out their body; from arms to legs and all around. Since they were doing different stretches at different times, the two looked like duo acrobat muscle flexers, showing their bodies to an invisible crowd. She giggled a little at the thought. As she watched, she tried to unscrew the cap on the bottle, but found it a little too tough. She was about to ask either the blond or the redhead for help when a hand came up in front of her.

"Need some help with this?" a friendly voice asked from above. Looking up, she saw the bottom of the bottle hovering above her. While one hand held the container, the other screwed off the cap. In unison both came down, the hands handing her the cap and the bottle. "Thank you, Demyx" she grinned, wagging her tail.

"Your welcome. Watching these two weird it out?" Demyx took the seat next to her plushie, not wanting to disturb it. She nodded.

"Hey Demyx!" Axel looked behind him while he was doing an arch.

The dirty blond smiled and gave a small wave in response. "Everybody else is on their way here, so you guys better hurry up before brawls break out."

"Fine" Roxas sighed, standing up after doing a spinal twist.

Both backed up a little ways away from each other and got in their battle ready positions. Tilting his head up and raising his arms, Axel focused his energy into the palms of his hands. Dirge held onto the bench as the stadium started to tremble. Thrusting his arms out to the side, a phoenix like glow emitted from the circular objects that covered his hands. The little girl watched in amazement as the Flurry of Dancing Flames summoned two chakrams in his hands, the tremors stopping. She then turned her attention to Roxas who had both his arms out to the side. In his left hand, a dark aura with small beads of light formed in his palm. In the right, a light aura with tiny beads of light blue also formed in his palm. Grasping them at the same time, the black key Oblivion and the light key Oathkeeper were in his clutches. Dirge leaned forward in astonishment about the scene she had just scene. How did they do that? What are those things? Questions ran through her mind as she was held speechless.

"I take it this is your first time seeing a person do that, huh?" Demyx smiled as he laid back on his hand. "Y-yeah" she blinked and looked up to him. "See, being like us means your special. You get have all these cool powers and awesome weapons" he explained.

"Like them?" Dirge pointed over to Axel and Roxas giving each other a stare down.

"Yep! Each one of us gets a different power-" he stopped at a light coming from Axel's and Roxas' direction.

Looking over, Axel swung his arm threateningly at Roxas, who was backing up for his partner's next attack. Swinging his arm to the side, a line of fire followed in the air after Axel's chakram. Roxas jumped back and spun around with his Keyblades out, aerials of light darting out with each swing. Quickly, Axel lifted the chakrams in front of him to block out the attack then dashed after his friend.

"Fire?" Dirge looked surprised. "Uh huh. Axel controls the power of fire and Roxas controls the power of light" he pointed as the two boys fought on and more members came into the stadium from behind. "What's your power, Demyx?" she looked back up to the mullet-haired man again.

"Me? My power is over-" "Lets go, you wuss!" Larxene cut in and grabbed Demyx by the hood, dragging him along the grass.

"Uh, we'll talk later Dirge! Sorry!" he called as he was dragged away like a sack of potatoes.

As she pulled, Dirge noticed Larxene make a fist with her free hand. With her grasp becoming tight, sparks emitted around her, like the kind lightning makes when it strikes something. Out of nowhere, blue and yellow throwing knives appeared in her fist. More sparks emitted from her full hand, knives also appearing in her clutch. Nervously, Demyx tried to keep the back of his head and neck far from the sharp tips. A different noise made her look elsewhere. It looked like six miniature tornadoes had shot up from the ground and surrounded Xaldin when they suddenly disappeared, leaving six lances in their wake. Grabbing two of them in one hand and a single one in the other, he let the other three float around him. Across from him, Vexen summoned a wall of ice, then thrust his hand into it palm first. The ice broke and from it, a blue shield was held by him.

The new member then turned back to the direction Demyx had been dragged off to just in time to see a circle of water around his feet. Small orbs of liquid floated into the air as he shot his hand up above him, summoning an oval like waterfall around him, centering into his hand. Suddenly stopping, a giant bubble floated above his hand, still shaking from the intake of so much water. Grabbing it, a long silhouette of the group crest formed until the water cleared within a flash of light. Tossing it, he grabbed his sitar and began to strum. She looked across the stadium to see the other members call upon their weapon and element in some type of unique way; blinking in disbelief at what they could and was still in surprised at what they were doing. As they fought, the child looked down at her hand.

'But...What power do I have?' she thought, flexing her fingers in and out as her face became somewhat blank yet close to a frown.

"Agh!" a cry came from the direction of fire and light followed by a loud crackle.

Dirge shot her head up to see Axel lodged in a crater in the wall. Roxas standing in front of him with the back his left hand on his hip, still holding Oblivion. The phoenix Nobody slowly lifted himself up by the help of some of the pieces of the wall, wincing at the pain. Dirge looked around to still see everybody fighting. How could they keep at it when one of them got hurt? Setting her apple juice down and grabbing her plushie, she got up. "Axel!" she called as she ran over.

The two Nobodies turned their attention to her as she approached, a worried look on her face. Axel opened his arms as Dirge jumped into them and nuzzled into his chest.

"Dirge?" Roxas leaned down behind her.

"Axel, are you okay?" she looked up to Axel, still holding onto him.

"Yeeeah, I'm okay" Axel nodded as he eyed Roxas with a questioning look.

"Are you sure? You have cuts all over you" she looked up with him, tears seeming to build up in her eyes.

He was set back a little at the look she gave him. She seemed to be smiling most of the time, but to see her sad...It was unbearable. How can someone so cheerful suddenly turn her eyes into tears of sadness?

"Yes, I'm sure" he gave her smile.

"Don't worry, Dirge. Axel's a semi-tough guy, he could survive an atomic bomb" Roxas put a hand on the back of her shoulder while Axel gave him an offended look. Semi-tough?

"This is just child's play compared to what we do on missions. Not like Roxas could really even kill a pinata much less me. I'll be fine" he rubbed her back as she looked up to him, the tears clearing away.

"You tell her that when I pour cement over your grave" Roxas whispered as he narrowed his eyes.

"Well, okay" she laid against his chest again.

Out of nowhere, Axel sensed something shoot through him. It didn't hurt, but it didn't seem natural; it was almost like some type of neutral power rising within him. Time seemed to stop as he narrowed his eyes, his gaze looked down at the girl in his arms, the plushie pressed against him. He twitched his hand to feel if the power was coming from her, but it wasn't. It didn't even seem to be coming from through his hands at all. Slowly, he inched his way to the plushie and almost touched it when...

"Alright then. You'd better get back to the bench before somebody takes your apple juice" Roxas picked her up and set her behind him.

She looked over to the bench to see Xaldin trying to crawl over to the bench with his hands and dragging his legs behind him. Dirge gasped as he reached for the bench, but Roxas quickly threw the Oathkeeper, striking Xaldin in the back and knocking him down, the Key boomeranging back into his hand. Vexen walked over, grabbed him by the legs, and pulled as the Whirlwind Lancer began to sob.

She nodded to Roxas in thanks, then turned back to Axel. He smiled and gave her the signal that he'd be fine. Nodding again, she turned back around and ran back over to the bench. "She's a sweet kid. Worrying about you like that" Roxas teased his friend by making little circles in the air with his finger at him.

"Yeah. Cute" Axel looked back down at his hands.

"Get ready again!" Roxas jumped back and stanced. Axel picked up his chakrams and also got into his fight stance.

"Go Axel!" Dirge cheered from the bench. Axel smirked in pride at Roxas.

"What!? Dirge!" Roxas waved over to her.

"Uh, go Roxy!" she cheered, waving her plushie in the air.

"Hah!" the blond pointed triumphantly.

"Dirge! I thought you were cheering for me?" Axel called, waving his chakrams.

"Yay Axel!" she waved to him.

"Dirge? I thought you liked me better!" Roxas looked over to her.

"Yay Roxy!" she waved again, getting a little tired.

"Just who's side are you on?" Axel asked, a smile on his lips.

The tired cheerleader looked at one and then the other several times before falling back in exhaustion. The two boys sighed and had a small laugh before getting back to their battle.

Several minutes later, battle practice time was over. The weapons were put away in some type of style as smiles and frowns were passed from partner to partner. Dirge slipped off the bench and scurried over to the approaching Roxas and Axel. Roxas took her hand as they went over to the fridge for a cold drink before leaving.

"You guys fight really good" she looked up at them as they walked down the hall.

"We get better and better as we practice" Roxas unscrewed the cap of his fruit punch bottle.

"All in a day's work" Axel smirked as he took a sip of his strawberry soda.

Roxas peered a little closer at his friend, noticing something unusual. Feeling uncomfortable as he drunk, Axel slowly lowered the bottle and looked at his friend oddly. Their pace began to slow Roxas got a little closer and Axel felt more uncomfortable. Dirge noticed their slowing and looked up to them, also slowing her pace to stay with them. They finally came to a complete stop in the middle of the hallway. Taking a hold of this opportunity, Roxas peered even closer to Axel and examined him some more.

"Can I _help_ you sir!?" Axel finally asked with obvious confusion. Roxas stood back and crossed his arms, "Didn't you have a cut on your cheek earlier?" Axel looked away for a moment before turning back to him, "Yeah, what about it?" Dirge watched him as Roxas circled Axel and looked him over some more, confused about what he was doing.

"And those cuts and scratches I gave you..." Roxas took a hold of one of the cuts in Axel's jacket.

"Yes?" Axel pursued in his question.

"You had over a dozen on you and now they're gone!" Roxas got back up and faced him again.

"Really?" his friend looked himself over to see that several injuries from the first battle before Dirge had cut in were gone.

"How'd that happen?" Roxas asked as he leaned forward towards his friend.

"How would I know? I didn't notice they were gone until now" Axel shrugged as he shook his head.

"Can you heal yourself?" Dirge looked up to him. He shook his head.

"We're not really the type to heal ourselves just like that. We need a potion or magic to do it" he explained as Roxas backed off.

"Well that's weird. And how come it didn't happen to me?" Roxas put his arms out to the side to reveal the scratches he had endured, pouting.

"Because you're not cool, but if you want it to happen so much, maybe if we get under the sheets and we rub a little, maybe some might rub off onto you" Axel brushed his shoulder up to him seductively, his voice smooth. Dirge looked up to the both of them in confusion.

"Not in front of Dirge!" Roxas pushed him away, "And I'd rather rub against a cactus than against you" he spit his tongue out as Axel crossed his arms and pouted.

"You know you want to" Axel spit his tongue out, winking to him.

Stomping his foot, Roxas hoisted Dirge under his arm and stuck his nose in the air. Dirge was still confused about what was going on as she wagged her tail. "C'mon, Dirge. Let's go somewhere where it's not so hot and dirty" he walked off with her, his eyes shut.

"Mind if I tag along?" Axel dashed up next to them, hands in his pocket.

"If you promise not to be so dirty in front of children" Roxas turned his head the opposite of Axel's.

"Fine, I guess I'll take your promise" the redhead slowed down into a walk next to his best friend.

"What do we do now?" Dirge looked up at the both of them while Roxas still held her under his arm.

"Whatever we want until a mission comes up" Roxas poked her cheek. "Yay!" she smiled.

"And I say, we got pay a visit to Demyx" Axel stretched his arms up.

"Fine" Roxas shrugged and adjusted his arm so that Dirge wouldn't fall.

Axel partially leading the way, the three walked down the hall. And yet, he occasionally glanced at the Dirge hanging under his best friend's arm. Not only her, but the plushie she tightly held in her arms and nuzzled against her cheek.


	6. The Toy She Held

The Nocturnal Melody sat on his bed, sitar in his arms. Strumming here, and twisting a couple of knobs there, he tuned his sitar with a hint of nervousness in his actions. In his last battle, his opponent had made several attempts to cut off the strings, not only trying to cut off his ability to strum, but also to stop him from controlling his element. Her kunai would constantly be thrown at him from her clutched fist, each one engulfed in sparkling pressure, and he would have to dodge them or hold the back of his sitar out against them. Unfortunately, while he did this, she would sometimes teleport behind him and try to cut the strings off with her blades. If one caught onto a string, she would forcibly pull the string towards her so that the blade would act like saw and cut the string. What made things worse is that he'd have almost no time to pull away when she was about to catch one of the strings, and if he did too late it would only help her.

Hastily, he began to work faster on the instrument. It was so nerve racking making sure everything was in order on his beloved instrument. Not only did he not how to completely fix an instrument, but he didn't know a good shop that could repair it actually _good._ His method consisted of trying to tie the strings back together at the break, but that only made his instrument not only look odd, but sound odd in his opinion.

"Alright then" he let out a quick sigh.

He strummed the three-stringed instrument to make sure the sound was how he had had it before. Moving his fingers along the strings, he felt he had almost got it. It just needed a few more adjustments.

"But first, gotta check for damage" he said in a worried tone as he looked over his sitar.

Only a small scratch here and there, nothing too serious. Flipping it over, he spotted a small burn mark from when one of the Nymph's kunai had made a direct hit onto his instrument. Luckily, it didn't seem too bad; all it needed was a little wash and it would be good as new.

"Okay, lets try this again" he turned the knobs carefully even though their was still nervousness in his actions. Satisfied, he was about to strum when a knock came at the door.

"Hello!" he shouted. Energy surged through him like he had just had a cup of espresso or caffeine alone. The door opened to a redhead peeking in with a confused look on his face.

"You oka-"

"Fine!" Demyx cut him off and turned his attention back to his sitar and began to strum, hoping for the right sound he was waiting for. As he did this, the three Nobodies walked in and watched him strum, staying quiet as he did so. Putting an ear close to the strings, he dragged his fingers against the chords one last time and sighed in relief. Perfect.

"You done yet?" Axel crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, what's up?" the controller of water set his sitar down on the stand next to his bed and turned his attention to his friends. "Nothin much. Just wanna hang out with Mr. Bubbles" Axel made himself comfortable laying on Demyx's water bed.

"In a way" Roxas put Dirge back on her feet after carrying her down the hall to the room. Amazingly enough to him, Dirge was light. He felt she had weight, but she was still light enough to carry.

"Hello!" she waved to the mullet-haired blond as she threw her empty apple juice bottle in the trashcan.

"Hey, sorry about Larxene dragging me off like that" he smiled to the little panda-suited girl while reaching for something black on the dresser next to his bed. "It's okay. You were busy" she walked up to the bed with Roxas.

"Aw, she forgives you, Demyx" Axel laughed as he looked up at Demyx upside down.

"_Anyway, _Xemnas told me to give this to her" he revealed the little black coat and outfit in his hands. "He knew we were going to come here?" Roxas raised an eyebrow as he took a seat beside Axel on the bed. "What is he? A stalker?" the redhead cringed at the thought. "Probably. He could if he wanted to since he is the Superior after all" Demyx shrugged as he went over to Dirge and held it up to her chest.

"Why not try it on and see if it fits?" Roxas asked as Demyx handed it to the little girl then returned to his bed.

"Okay!" she smiled as was about to lift her shirt up, but stopped as she looked over to the boys to see them staring at her.

"Woohoo! Take it off!" Axel joked as he sat up and shook his fist in the air, Roxas slapping the back of his head.

"Uh, you can use my bathroom if you need to" Demyx blushed a little as he pointed to the door next to his T.V.

"Okay. Can you boys watch Moggy for me?" she asked as she walked over to the bed. "Moggy?" the boys looked at each other. "Moggy" she lifted the moogle plushie up to them.

"S-sure, no problem" Axel gently took it from her hands. "I'll be right back" she scurried over to the door, opened it and walked in.

The three boys looked at each other and then to the plushie Axel held. It's eyes were two string Xs as well as its mouth. A soft red pompom on a spring was on the top of its head between two small bear like ears. The arms and legs hung down, obviously lifeless. The body part looked well rounded, still soft along with the rest of its limbs with a small stitch going down the abdomen. Complete, the stuffed animal looked like it had eaten something sour before being hung from the gallows.

"Any idea why she carries this thing around?" Axel whispered to the others as he held it by its torso. "She's just a kid Axel. Maybe she likes to carry it around" Roxas poked at the pompom. "Yeah, and maybe it's special to her in a way" Demyx thought up.

"How can she like it? It looks _dead" _Axel pointed to the eyes before laying it on the bed.

"So what? It may mean something to her" Roxas crossed his arms. Axel shook his head at the toy laying before him. He still didn't get why a little girl would like a toy that looks like it's about ready to be put in the grave. Then that gave him an idea and he smirked a little...

"What if this was once an actual moogle?" he looked to his two friends. "Yeah right" Roxas rolled his eyes.

"Really? What if they just found one on the street, shot it with a tranquilizer gun before viciously beating it to death?" Number 8 started as the others started to listen to his gruesome tale.

Suddenly, the bathroom door opened a Dirge peeked out. "Do I have to wear something under this when I put this on?" she asked as she held up the coat.

"Underwear, pants, no shirt. Other than that, I dont" Axel shrugged.

"Neither do I" Demyx shook his head.

"I sometimes wear an undershirt or something under it" Roxas shrugged.

"Okay!" she nodded, but then blushed.

The boys were staring at her again, not because she was about to take off her panda shirt though. She had already taken her shirt off and they could see patches of her abdomen, arms, and a little bit of her chest behind her coat, even though she was still young and hadn't gone through puberty yet. Looking down at her self, she blushed and closed the door again.

"You're both pedophiles" Roxas pointed at the two older Nobodies. "Looks who's talking. I saw you staring at her with wide eyes" Axel pointed at the spikey blond, making him blushed even though he tried to give his redheaded friend a serious look.

"Anyways," he started, getting back to his story, "so yeah. They beat it to death, and they drag it back to their horrible laboratory like place and begin to 'fix it' " he quoted with his two index and middle fingers. Roxas kept his arms crossed in disbelief while Demyx looked somewhat concerned.

"It's like they shove a knife up its ass and make a bigger opening. Not only that, but they make sure they cut out all the veins and organ connectors. Then they hold it up and start to shake it so that the nasty stuff comes out. And to make sure they got everything out, they cut open its abs" he stopped and pointed to the stitch on the abdomen.

Roxas still looked in disbelief, but Demyx looked like the color had drained from his face.

"And they wouldn't just cut everything out of its stomach why?" the blond asked as he shook his head.

"Don't interrupt Roxy, it's rude" Axel smiled triumphantly. Pouting, Roxas laid back and sighed while Demyx still paled in color.

Axel continued his gruesome tale, "So after making sure they got all the organs and veins out, they skin it with butcher knives and remake its skin into something soft and cuddly like this" he pushed it to Roxas' face, making him back up a little. "While that's going on, they take the skeleton and the extras and feed them to the hungry dogs outside the factory. Once the "skin" is done, they simply sew it back together and clean up any leftovers-" Axel stopped as he watched Demyx faint and fall to the floor.

Automatically, Axel burst out into laughter and fell onto his back on the bed as he held his sides. Roxas pouted and helped the pale Demyx back onto the bed and laid him straight. "Yeah Axel, ha ha. Like they really do that. They probably make a ton of those each year" Roxas sighed in annoyance as he fixed Demyx's pillow for him to lay on.

"Then explain there not being a tag" Axel held it and turned the plushie around for him to look for the tag.

"That doesn't prove your point. She could've taken the tag off or maybe it was handmade" the blond made a point.

"Fine Roxy, ruin the fun" the redhead sat back up and crossed his arms, but still smiled at the knocked out Demyx next to him.

"I'm done" Dirge called from the bathroom. "Lets see how it looks" Axel called as Demyx began to come back to life.

The door slowly opened and a small boot stepped out. Following it was a little girl in a black coat, looking to the boys. Without the panda hood over her head, her hair was finally freed enough to reach a little further past her shoulders. The coat was pressed flat against her body, revealing she wasn't wearing the panda shirt underneath, only the things Axel had told her to have.

"How does it look?" she turned off the light and walked out, twirling it around.

"Cute" Roxas chuckled.

"Call me" Axel made a phone sign with his hands, Roxas slapping him again.

"Aw, she looks like a doll" Demyx fully awoke and smiled as he rubbed his head. "Yay!" she smiled.

"Your plushie" Roxas handed it to her, Demyx nearly vomiting when he looked at it.

"Thank you." she smiled as she nuzzled her face into it, Demyx still trying to keep from revealing his breakfast.

"So, what're you gonna do with the panda suit?" Axel asked, pointing to the black and white animal suit on her arm.

"I'll probably have to put it away somewhere. We have to wear these everyday right?" she lifted a side of the coat to show the boys. "Only if it's a mission day; on free days we get to wear whatever we want" Roxas explained with a comforting smile on his lips.

"Then I'll have to wash it for later" she looked down at it. "We'll wash it on laundry day with my clothes" Axel laid against the headboard with is arms crossed behind him. "You really want to kill her clothes?" Roxas narrowed his eyes as he looked at him. Axel sniffed and looked to the side with his eyes closed.

"So Dirge," Demyx started, trying to compose himself over the R rated story Axel had told a few minutes earlier, "what's up with the plushie?"

"Moggy?" she looked at the plushie in her hands, "Moggy is one of my best friends. He's been with me for a long time" she held it up for them.

"He must be _really special to you_" Roxas smiled to her, but was straining on his words as he looked at Axel. She nodded, "He's always there for me when I'm alone or scared. That's also why I love him" she touched the pompom on the spring.

"See Ax-el" Roxas leaned over to him with a sly smirk on his face. Axel shrugged it off as Dirge looked between the two of them, confused yet again.

"Alright then, riddle-me-this; Where'd you get it from? Somebody give it to you?" Axel looked over to the little girl standing with her plushie. Dirge opened her mouth to answer, but stopped as a look of terror and fear spread across her face.

"Dirge?" the spikey redhead sat up as the others looked to her.

Within a matter of seconds, her pupils dilated to a tiny size to reveal more of the goldish color in her eyes. A jolt of force and pain shot up through her body as she dropped her plushie and clutched her head.

"Dirge!" Roxas fell to her with the others following him.

Yet she couldn't hear him, her sense of hearing had immediately blocked him out and seemed to be shutting down completely. Falling to her knees, she let out a groan of pain, shaking her head, her eyes still locked open in fear. The pounding in her chest sped up to top speed, so loud it seemed to be the only thing she could hear. The room and everyone in it besides herself seemed to fade from her vision, leaving her in darkness. Another jolt shot up her body and she cried out in pain, bringing her clutched head to the floor next to her knees. The pain was so much it was becoming so unbearable in only a few shots; her thinking stopped and her mind became loud with noises that she couldn't understand. Tears streamed from her eyes as everything became so confusing and lost to her.

"Dirge! Dirge look at me!" Axel shook her gently as he picked her up. She still clutched her head and was groaning in pain as more jolts surged through her body.

"Roxas, go get Xemnas!" Demyx looked over to the spikey blond. Nodding, he immediately left in an explosion of darkness. Axel was able to get her hands down to her side, but being held, her head lolled back with the same shocked expression as if nothing had stopped. Quickly, he laid her on the bed with her head against the pillow. She still had no response and began to tremble somewhat violently has her head laid to the side.

"What's wrong with her?" Demyx sat next to her. Axel shook his head, staying silent as a look of fear and worry spread across his face. "Dirge! Dirge!" he grabbed her head and moved it so that she was facing his. She still didn't wake up, but her shaking had calmed a little.

"Dirge it's me, Axel. Can you hear me?" he asked slowly, hoping she would understand enough to get through to her. She groaned and began to take deep breaths.

"Dirge, if you can hear me, say my name. Call me Axel" he called to her again, his voice starting to shake. Tears still flowing from her eyes, she looked up and slowly tried to form words, but it was an effort for her. "Say Axel" Demyx looked down to her in worry as well.

"Ngh-xel" she coughed. She was still in her world of complete darkness and could only faintly hear the sound of muffled voices calling out to her. Too muffled to completely process, she heard some familiar words and syllables. Trying to answer back without thinking was difficult though, she didn't know what she was saying and she couldn't feel her lips enough to mouth what she wanted. She was completely numb.

"Ax-el!" the redhead raised his voice, his hands trembling on the sides of her head.

"Ngh-xel! Ngh-xel" she could barely spit out her words.

The two Nobodies turned to the door to see Roxas and Xemnas enter the room in another explosion of darkness. Axel let go of Dirge's head and sat back on the bed, shaking his head in shock. He didn't know what to do. At the release of his hands, she began to shake violently again, her breaths shorter and not as deep anymore. Xemnas rushed over to the bed and quickly looked her over.

"Roxas, hold her" he looked back at the young officer. He automatically grabbed her arms and held them against the bed.

Calmly, the Superior lifted a hand and put his gloved index finger to her forehead. She stopped shaking and breathing for a moment at the feel and looked up blindly to him. Leaning forward to her, the silver haired man made eye contact with the little girl, his eyes illuminating like a cat in the dark. Within seconds, her breathing slowly became normal again. The pounding in her chest became calm and steady. Still blind in a sense, she made a slow blink every minute, her eyes still not back to normal. Letting out a grunt, Xemnas drew back his hand and thrust it back above her face, fingers spread out as an ounce of power shot into the air and swam through her. The others watched closely as the girl raised her torso up, then slowly descending it to the bed below her, continuing on undisturbed for the next few seconds. Finally calm, her head lolled to the side once more and she closed her eyes, laying on her side.

"W-what just happened?" Demyx looked to his Superior who stood back up. "A Spectre du Ceres" he picked her up once Roxas had released her and slipped her under the sheets. "A what?" he looked to him in confusion.

"Spectre du Ceres. It's a type of side affect that happens when a Nobody has no memory" he looked to the three behind him."No memory? But, Roxas doesn't have any memory and that's never happened to him" Axel pointed to the young blond.

"I know. SdC happens when a Nobody tries to regain memory, but the memories unfortunately come back all together with such great force they don't really become memories anymore; rather, they become a type of racking pain that disrupts the body and attacks the senses" he explained to them as he moved some hair out of Dirge's face.

"But why? Why would they just turn into an attack and do...that?" Demyx asked carefully as he looked to the girl sleeping peacefully.

"In truth, I'm not really sure. Memories usually belong to the heart, not the body. To have them to both ourselves and our hearts is a privilege depending on how much the heart will share its memories with the body. When it doesn't transfer properly or not at all and the body tries to recover them from a long lost heart, I can only guess SdC would happen, but I'm still speculating" Xemnas answered as he looked out the window.

"So that's what was going on" Roxas blinked as he looked down to her.

"Have you seen this before?" Demyx asked the older man. He stood silent for a moment, looking to the side before letting out a sigh, "It happened to me once when I first started out as a Nobody."

"Oh...what'd you do to stop it?" Axel blinked, still shocked after what happened to Dirge.

"I used my power to combat the pain back enough until I was able to get myself under control. I did the same thing with Dirge, though she was far easier to send it through" he motioned toward her.

"That still doesn't explain why Roxas doesn't have it" Demyx thought back a few moments earlier.

"Roxas doesn't have SC since he wields the Keyblade, not to mention your heart isn't that far off. Chances are you'll still get it, but you won't have it as severe as Dirge does" he looked back down to her.

"Guess you're right. She doesn't have any power or a weapon for that matter to hold it off" Axel lowered his head. Who would really know when she would get her power and a weapon, or if she even would for that matter. What if she never discovered them? How will she fight? And what about her memory? Will she ever get that back? Would that make SC stop? Would it get worse the longer she waited? She would just have to live with SC for a long time wouldn't she? The questions raced over in Axel's mind over and over again.

"Will this happen every time she tries to remember something?" Roxas sat down next to Axel.

"Not necessarily. I would guess it would occur if the memory was something important, but I'm not too sure" he dark man shrugged.

"Then you'd be the only one to make it stop?" Demyx lowered his head as well.

"Actually," Xemnas started, Demyx and Axel raising their gazes to him, "if you three could learn to concentrate your power into an energy force that can be transferred into her, you might be able to do the same" he looked down at his hand and flexed it a couple of times. "Saix and Zexion are pretty good at it even though they aren't up to my level yet."

The three boys looked at each other. Axel looked down to his hand and thought deeply. Should he have to do it, would he be able to do it right? Then the image of her bursting into flames and her cries of pain flashed in his mind; his eyes widened as his hand trembled.

Demyx winced at the thought if he had to do it. He wasn't sure if he'd be up to the task since he had the idea he wouldn't be able learn it at all, and if he did something terrible would happen. A little girl drowning in a bubble before him as she held her throat and gasped for air, only to have water rush into her mouth and into her lungs shot through his mind. He shook his head and shuddered.

Roxas put a hand over lips and thought; he could probably do it. His power couldn't really harm her that much if at all. Since light is supposed to be pure, it would probably help her. But then again, what if it didn't work? What if it didn't even affect her or made it worse? If it backfired and accidentally harmed her? He looked toward the sleeping girl with the gentle expression spread across her face. The other two did the same, still quiet with their thoughts. Of course Saix and Zexion would be able to do it, their elements didn't actually harm as much as they fueled their strength. Not to mention they've been in the Organization longer than they have and two of the three closest people to Xemnas. How could they possibly do the same?

"Anways, let her rest for a while and she'll wake up soon" he stroked his hand against her forehead, "If it happens again, let me know." "Yes sir" Axel sighed in somewhat relief.

Xemnas was about to open the door when he stopped and looked back, narrowing his eyes. "SC happens for a reason. The memory must be called forth for it to become full force and harmful. What was she trying to remember?" he asked, looking back at the three Nobodies behind him.

"W-where she got her plushie from" Axel answered, guilt in his voice that he was the one who asked that triggered the whole scene.

Xemnas nodded before turning to the door again, "Axel" he started, Number 8 looked over to him, "Don't feel guilty about it. You didn't know it would happen, nor did you cause it" he said then opened the door and walked out.

Minutes passed as the three boys sat on the bed, carefully watching over Dirge as she slept. Axel had been fumbling with his fingers in boredom and frustration. Looking to the floor, the plushie still lay, separated from its master who was sleeping above it. He reached down and picked it up slowly. Turning to the girl in the bed, Axel let out a sigh. In a way, he still felt responsible for Dirge's episode. Yet, looking at her sleeping peacefully in the bed put his mind at ease. Demyx and Roxas watched as Axel reached over to the little girl and set a hand on her shoulder, rubbing it gently.

"You know it's not your fault" Roxas gave him a small comforting smile.

He looked to him and nodded, then stiffed as he felt movement under his hand. Looking to where his hand was placed, Dirge drew her shoulder closer to her neck and tightened her closed eyes, finally waking up.

"You okay?" Roxas asked in a low voice. He wanted to be careful with her since she was just waking up from what was almost a nightmare for them.

Slowly she blinked open her eyes and looked around the room. Axel quickly removed his hand as she carefully sat up and laid a hand on her head as she fell back onto the pillow. "Wha-what happened?" she asked as she eyed the three men in front of her.

"You don't remember?" Demyx asked as he leaned closer to her.

She shook her head, "All I remember was everything turning black and weird noises." The three of them looked at each other in question. Was it a good idea to tell her what had happened? Would she even understand it? Neither of them really knew the right answer if there ever was one. Sighing, Roxas turned to her.

"You...you sorta blacked out there" he answered gently.

"Blacked out?" she tilted her head against the pillow.

"Yeah, you must've been really tired to just suddenly collapse like that" Axel played along with a gentle expression.

She nodded, "I guess I must've been to just fall asleep like that."

The higher officers looked at each other and gave a small sigh of relief, though guilt was still in them. They were lying to her. Lying to a young girl who they had just met not too long ago. However, they seemed to have no choice since they didn't know how she would react to the truth.

"Axel" Roxas looked down to his friend's hands. Axel looked down to see that he was still holding the plushie.

"Oh, right. You dropped this right before you fell asleep" he handed her the moogle plushie he was holding onto.

She smiled and hugged the stuffed animal close. Demyx made a small noise and held a hand over his mouth as the other two watched him regain his composure. He wasn't done thinking about the story.

"You know" Dirge started as she looked at them from the pillows. They brought their attention to her. "Moggy has always been beside me since Xemnas found me. He was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes" she played with the pompom on its head.

"That's why he's so special to you" Roxas smiled as he brought his leg up on the bed and rested his arm on it.

"Yeah. I don't know what happened, but I opened my eyes from being asleep. I didn't know what happened or where I was, but when I sat up and looked around, I saw I was holding Moggy in my arms" she held him up for them to see once more.

"And since then, he's been your friend" Demyx made a point, smiling at his answer. She nodded happily.

"So, what do you want to do now?" Axel comfortably laid back on his hands. It was time to get things back to "normal."

"How about we check out that sitar?" Roxas thumbed the on the other side of the bed.

"Awesome idea Roxy!" Demyx smiled and picked up the blue shaded instrument in his hands, sitting next to Dirge.

"Play a song fool" Axel made a "shoo" movement with his hand, making Demyx pout.

Closing his eyes and positioning his hands, Demyx began to play. His fingers stroked against the chords with a swift but calm motion on his right hand. The fingers on his left hand pressed down on and off as he moved his hand up and down the neck of the instrument. The melody would start out soft before he going poco a poco up across the sound scale; then he would slowly become softer. A combination of loud notes to pull in and softer to push out matched the exactly melody and motion of the sea brushing against the shore. After a few minutes, the song became softer and softer as the music faded away until it was gone completely. Dirge and Roxas clapped as Axel shrugged.

"Thou art not amused" he spit his tongue out to the instrumentalist. Demyx did the same back at him.

"That was really good" Dirge looked up to Demyx.

"Really? Thanks" he smiled, scratching the back of his head in shyness.

"Why don't you try teaching Dirge how to do it?" Roxas suggested another idea.

"Yeah, show Dirgey your skills" Axel sat up.

"Fine, I will" Demyx pouted a little and carefully handed the sitar to the little girl.

"Hold it steadily. Yeah, just like that. Now put your left hand here...exactly! And your right one right over here" Demyx directed as he helped her hold up the instrument. "Like this?" she looked up to him curiously. He nodded.

"It's easy. All you have to do is just gently pluck the strings with your right hand and move your left hand along the neck. Since you're a beginner, it doesn't have to be a song" he ruffled her hair.

"Okay" she looked down to the foreign music maker in her lap.

Hesitantly, she plucked the strings one by one in order several times. More times she forgot to move her left hand along the neck or moved it but didn't press the strings in. Roxas tried to keep a straight face while she played by keeping his eyes shut and smiling, but a suspicious vein was popping out of his temple. Demyx tried to keep smiling but, unnoticed to him, his smile was twisting and fading into a frown. Axel had no problem showing how he felt about the music since he was trying to fight off the sleep falling over him. Dirge finally stopped after a while and looked up to the instrumentalist.

"Anything for the finish?" he asked nervously.

"Finish?" she looked down at the instrument again.

Axel swore he almost fell off the bed out of tiredness after she said that. Roxas still managed to keep a straight face even though his eyebrow was twitching. She looked up to Demyx and nodded and held the guitar firmly in her hands again. Closing her eyes, she placed her fingers on the sitar exactly where Demyx had told her to hold it. Carefully and suddenly, she let out several low notes that descended to become lower; then she played it again. For a finish, she brushed the back of her fingers against the strings for a lasting affect. The three boys sat in astonishment. Axel had become wide awake, Roxas' strained face became one of surprise, and Demyx looked down to her in confusion.

"Done!" she said cheerfully.

"Wow, Dirge. That ending was pretty good" Axel clapped slowly.

"Yeah, I didn't think you could do it" Demyx said before Roxas punched him in the arm.

"It was very nice" he complimented.

"Thank you" she blushed as she handed it back to Demyx.

As Roxas smiled, he looked to the corner next to the bed. The others didn't notice that something had caught his attention. Looking to the corner, he could've sworn he saw something flash there.

* * *

A/N: Bleh! I actually had to put some thought into this chapter! Yes, let it be known now that not all the chapters will be happy-go-lucky comedy; there will be some seriousness as the genre for this story is drama too, but I'm looking more forward to the fun side of the story. Yays! As for the Spectre du Ceres, I guess you could kinda call it a seizure, but I say it's not! But that's sorta the part I had to put some thinking into. It's sorta going to be a problem Dirge has which _may _relate to who she is, but I'm not entirely sure.

So I added both some humor and some seriousness into this chapter. Moogle part was probably my favorite part. Description wise for the thing, let it be known that the moogle plush does not look like that moogles you see in what, Final Fantasy XII? Maybe a little lower? More like the plush in FFVII: Advent Children.

Anyways, I'll try and update soon! Please review!


	7. The Mission That Never Was

Yay! My first update for this story for the new year! And if it's not the new year and you a just now reading this a little later in the year, well good day to you sir or madam.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kingdom Hearts or it's characters. I only own Dirge. Take THAT society!

* * *

"So now what?" Dirge asked as she looked down.

She was being given a piggyback ride by Roxas as he and Axel walked down the hallway. They had left the Melodious Nocturne to recover when Dirge had made the stuffed animal kiss Demyx on the cheek in thanks for letting her play his sitar. To her confusion, the instrumentalist fainted several seconds after contact with the toy. Roxas had helped him back onto the bed while Axel held his sides as he laughed on the floor. Together, they both decided to leave him there for the time being until he recovered. The plushie was now firmly placed on the head of its respective owner.

"Dunno. Today's a mission day, so there's a chance we might get one" Axel carried Dirge's panda suit in his hand.

"Might as well check our rooms to see if Xemnas left anything for us" Roxas looked back to his partner. Axel sighed in boredom and nodded, reluctant to go along with his friend's suggestion.

As they walked, Roxas eyed the Dirge on his back. Her head pressed against the spikes of his blond hair. The goldish eyes looked straight ahead, but he could see that she was still drowsy from her "episode" from when they were still in Demyx's room. He also eyed the plushie on top of her head, that showed no emotion at all, before looking straight ahead again. Thinking a few moments back; what was the flash he saw? He knew he saw something flash in the corner of Demyx's room that hadn't been there before. It hadn't popped up before during previous visits to his room nor earlier when they were first in there. It only showed up when Dirge stopped playing the sitar...

He turned the knob to his room, "Welcome to the room of the coolest member" he looked up to the girl on his head.

"Roxy, you know better than to lie to a little girl, don't you?" Axel put his hands on his hips and leaned forward to him with a smirk.

"Don't _you_?" the blond turned to him as they walked in.

"I'm not that heartless" the redhead crossed his arms and shrugged, a smile still on his lips.

Roxas set Dirge down on the bed and started checking around the room. "What're you looking for?" she asked as she watched him search the room.

"Xemnas sometimes leaves us notes, letters, or sticky notes to tell us we have a mission if we're not in our rooms" the thirteenth answered as he checked his desk drawers.

"And sometimes his Sorcerers will leave them in stupid places whether we're in here or not" Axel leaned against the doorway and sighed.

After a few moments, Roxas stopped looking. "Nothing yet" he gave a smile.

"Then lets go" Axel turned to walk out the door.

Roxas leaned down in front of Dirge, back towards her to ask for a ride. Dirge shook her head.

"You don't have to carry me. I'd rather walk if that's okay" Dirge slipped off the bed and looked to him.

"Well...I'd rather carry you around then have you walk. This is your first day and you look a little tired" he smiled to her, still in his position. In more truth, he was worried about her even though she was fine after the episode. He didn't really want her to walk, but be more careful and safer on his back.

"But I'd rather walk. You'd probably feel bad cause you're caring me, and I'd feel bad because you were" she took his hand happily and led him out the door.

He sighed, but smiled as he looked down to her, "As you wish, I guess."

They caught up with Axel shortly after he left and headed to his room. A few minutes into their walk, Roxas noticed Dirge was slowing behind him. She would fall behind him and when she saw this, she would quickly catch up to him, but fall back a few minutes later. Her movements were still drowsy with eyes to match. The next time she fell back, he immediately swung her up onto his back and grabbed onto her legs.

"Roxy?" she looked down to him from the spikey bush on his head.

"No trouble at all miss. You're pretty light anyways" he looked up to him and smiled.

"Roxas is a suckup!" Axel waved from his door, Roxas now noticing how far behind they were.

"Well Axel is a butthead!" he called back.

Axel spit his tongue out at him and opened the door as the other two caught up. By the time they walked in, Axel was already searching his nightstand drawers.

"Dirge, you search that half of the room" he pointed to the left side of the room without taking his eyes off the nightstand.

"Isn't that a little rude to make Dirge look? It is _your _room after all" Roxas set Dirge on the ground and put his hands on his hips.

"Well she does share a room with me. So if she's going to sleep in here, she's gotta do what I say" Axel turned to him and thumbed his chest.

"You're horrible!" the blond pointed at him, but Dirge had already began looking around the room for any of the said notes.

Soon after she had started, Axel stopped, not completely done checking his side and sat on the bed next to Roxas.

"No! You don't get your bed back, you child laborer!" he shoved him off the bed with his booted foot.

"Well it's my bed!" he jumped back up and pushed him off the other side.

"You don't deserve it!" Roxas climbed back on and pulled at his friend's hair.

"Well you don't get to sit on it then! Leggo of my hair!" he quickly stood up and slammed Roxas onto the bed.

Roxas, still holding onto his friend's hair, pulled harder and was able to slam him off the bed. The redhead quickly shot back up and tackled his friend off the the other side of the bed and began trying to pin his shoulders down.

"It's my bed!" he growled through his clenched teeth. Roxas rolled on top of him.

"And it's Dirge's too!" he said, trying to pin the older Nobody down. Axel kicked him up, dashed to get up and quickly pushed his friend back as he tried to recover.

He then pinned Roxas onto the bed, wrists and legs in all. The victim tried to get up, but his friend's strength was too much.

"There. See how easy things can be settled when we talk things out?" Axel leaned closer to him.

"Jackass" Roxas mumbled under his breath.

"You know, I kinda like this position" the top man smiled mischievously as he looked down to his friend.

Roxas double took at their position and looked up to his friend in disgust. "You're nasty!"

"What're you guys doing? I thought battle practice was over" Dirge's voice asked.

The other two stiffed at the sound of her voice and turned to see her watching them in an awkward position.

"N-nothing Dirge; just showing Roxas a couple of moves" Axel smiled nervously back to the little girl.

"You're heavy" Roxas groaned. "Shut up" Axel replied.

"I think I found something" she turned around to the sticky note on the underside of the desk.

"What's it say?" Axel looked back to her as he carefully unpinned and got off of his friend.

" 'Mission Level 2: Scout the city for any potential dangers. Check the different sectors and checkpoints of each block. Destroy any Heartless that show up. Establish any Nobodies missing from the checkpoints. Report back when finished.' Axel, what's a Heartless?" she finished and walked over to the man.

"Heartless are beings of darkness. They go around looking for hearts to steal. Once a person loses their heart to one of them," he leaned down to her, "they become like one of us, if they have a strong heart. Just like you" he poked her chest.

"Then shouldn't we be called Heartless?" she tilted her head.

"That's exactly, _exactly_ what I asked Xemnas! And you know what he said? He said, 'Well, that name was already taken. Plus, Zexion came up with the name. He said, not only am I surrounded by idiots, I'm surrounded by nobodies.' Seriously!" Roxas complained as he slid off the bed.

"That's what almost every new Nobody asks when they join" Axel stood up and scratched the back of his neck. What was up with that?

"Oh" Dirge said shortly, learning something at that moment.

"Lets lock and load then" the redhead started for the door.

"Hey Axel," Roxas stopped him by grabbing his arm, "do you think it's right for Dirge to come along after what happened earlier?" he whispered as he leaned close to his ear.

His friend shrugged. "She seems pretty okay now, if you want to ask Xemnas, then lets get going" he mumbled back to him as he looked back to him.

Axel opened the door to see a Dusk in the doorway. "And you need?" he tilted his head.

It walked in and began do the movements of a slinky going down the stairs over to Dirge. She stepped back in surprise as it stretched its body around her to block any attempts to escape and unzipped its mouth.

"Hi" she said, still in surprise. Inside, the gray head with a zigzag mouth inside of its mouth opened as the two boys walked over. Settled in its mouth was another sticky note. "A note?" she calmed down and entered confusion. "He's not expecting you to reach in there and get it is he?" Axel said in disgust. "Ew, don't make her do it" Roxas winced at the thought.

It took its buckled tied hand and reached in, taking it out for itself and holding it to her for her to read. " 'Do take Dirge along if she feels up to it. If she doesn't, let her stay in Axel's room or have her report to me. If she does, be sure to protect her should any Heartless show up. She's still developing, so teach her something along the way. -Xemnas' " she read aloud.

"See, don't have to ask" Axel looked to Roxas.

"I guess" he shrugged then turned to Dirge, "So Dirge, do you feel up for your first mission?"

She crossed her arms and thought about it for a short while. Then she looked up at the blond and nodded, "Yeah!"

"Good, then lets get this over with" Axel picked her up perched her on his back.

She looked around frantically at how higher she was up on Axel's back than on Roxas'; tail wagging happily and eyes wide in amazement.

"Be careful up there. Chances are Axel won't let you know when to duck" Roxas put a half cupped hand to the side of his lips to look as if he was calling up.

"Yeesh, Roxy, I'm not that stupid" his friend began walking when Dirge suddenly hit the top of the doorway. Roxas' jaw dropped automatically as Axel didn't stop walking until he was a few feet away from the door.

"Oh, sorry" he said casually as he looked up to the Dirge, her hands covering the red mark where she had been hit.

* * *

"Wow! It's so big!" Dirge looked around from Roxas' shoulders at the city. Skyscrapers towered above while neon signs streamed the midway and emptiness ruled below. They had barely taken their first few steps past the entrance of the city, but Dirge had to let out her opinion.

"Never been to a city before?" Axel glanced over at her, still rubbing the spot in his side where Roxas had side kicked him for letting Dirge hit the doorway.

"No, well, at least I don't think so..." she crossed her arms as the pompom of her plushie fell into her face.

The two of them froze in their tracks and looked to the little girl in fear. Her carrier held her legs closer to his sides and a pounding in his chest sped up. Axel stood in shock, waiting for what could possibly happen. Fear crept up into his chest and his hand twitched. A drop of sweat rolled down Roxas' cheek.

She looked down to Roxas and over to Axel in confusion, "What?"

"Uh...um" Roxas looked over to Axel for an idea. "Well...er" was the only reply he got back as Axel looked over to him.

"There was...uh...a bee! Yeah, a bee, flying around!" Axel finally gave up an answer.

"Yeah! We didn't want to get stung, so we stopped" Roxas played along.

"I didn't see a be-" "Yes you did!" Axel cut her off and began walking again.

They walked further into the city, passing along hotels, stores, and bars etc. as they examined the sectors.

"Why are there so many buildings if you all live in that Castle" Dirge asked as she pointed to the ominous figure still visible despite how far they had walked.

Axel sighed and shook his head, a smile on his lips at her ignorance, "It gets stressful at that Castle Dirge."

"_Really stressful" _Roxas agreed as he eyed a bar, even though he was underage. Silly Roxas, drinks are for adults.

"So sometimes we need to come out here and get away from all of it. Kick your feet up and relax. Plus, there's food out here too" Axel thumbed a nearby grocery store.

"Oooooh, so it's sorta like a vacation?" she looked to them.

They nodded. "Need to get away from the Annoyance That Never Was" Roxas furrowed his eyebrows.

"Yep, out to the Dark City That Never Was" Axel sprinted ahead and turned around, his arms out to the side.

"To the Grocery Store That Never Was," he pointed to the store, "To the Bar That Never Was," he nodded over to the bar across from the store, "The Music Store That Never Was" he thumbed the store with the neon music note. "And look," he reached down and picked up something off the ground "it's The Roadkill That Never Was" he shook the dead rat looking Dusk.

"_Alright_, we get it" Roxas strained, Dirge feeling a vein in his neck suddenly rise.

"Yep, all this for a Vacation That Never Was! It's the vacation you never took, cause it Never Was!" the redhead said in a slogan-like manner.

"Al-right Axel!" Roxas finally burst out. Dirge laughed at Axel's jokes as he gave a short bow, but stopped as he sensed something.

Roxas looked around frantically and got in a battle stance. "What's wrong?" Dirge looked down to him.

"Heartless" the blond growled. He quickly picked her off his back and slowly began to walk to the grocery store, sensing them to be close.

Axel quickly summoned his chakrams and backed up cautiously. He could sense they were around, but didn't know exactly where. Roxas reached the front door of the store and set Dirge down, ushering her to go in. She nodded and scurried in, but stayed near at the windows of the door. Quickly, the Keyblade wielder ran back around to Axel and eyed the area cautiously.

"C'mon" Axel hissed through clenched teeth. Roxas turned towards his direction, down the alley in a patch of darkness that was only lit by the neon signs some feet away from it. He narrowed his eyes and began to summon his Keys when he saw something moving. A shadowed figure with pale yellow eyes formed out of the ground, a black arm reaching up out of the ground, then another one to help pull out the rest of its body.

"And there it is" Roxas clutched the Oathkeeper and Oblivion. It shuddered as the rest of its body was finally out of the ground. "It's not the only one" Axel looked back at his partner to see that several more had appeared.

"Good luck!" Dirge waved from the window. Axel chuckled and waved back to her, "Watch and see what a real fight is."

One of the NeoShadows crouched down with its arms out, then shot up into the air. Axel jumped up and threw his right chakram just as the other Shadows went for Roxas. He jumped back, stopped on his foot, and propelled himself forward with the Keys at his side. The spiked weapon soared behind the airborne Shadow and was caught in its master's hand as he jumped back down. The younger Nobody allowed his Keys to slice through the sidelined Shadows as he dashed past before stopping on his feet. One charge at him with its claws forward, ready to claw at his skin. Realizing this, he kicked it back and vanquished it in an upward sweep. Another targeted Axel the same way, but the Fire Dancer had already caught this. Setting his chakram ablaze, he thrust it at the monster, than quickly brought it back in a yo-yo like way.

Dirge watched in amazement at how they fought the Heartless. It was somewhat different from what she saw at the coliseum. Their attacks were more vicious and actually had real force behind them. The expressions on their faces were also real; a look of seriousness and ferocity with a mix of enjoyment as they destroyed the beings of darkness. She screamed and jumped back as one ran up and slammed into the door. Viciously, it banged its head and clawed at the door, trying to get in so it could go for her. She fell backwards and put her arm up to protect herself, but then the sound of a death rattle filled her ears.

She looked up and saw that it was gone, Axel standing in the diminishing darkness. He tapped on the window, "Are you okay?"

Happy, she nodded and got back on her feet. He smiled, "We're almost done out here, so sit tight" he looked back as Roxas used a light sphere to blow one away. "Okay" she smiled and allowed Axel to get back to his fight.

Within a few more minutes, the dark creatures had been cleared and the streets became quiet. Roxas and Axel took one last look around to make sure they were gone before giving Dirge the okay to come out. She slowly opened the door and looked around, cautiously stepping out as she did so. "No need to be afraid, we got rid of them" Roxas gave her a wink. "Are you two okay?" she asked with a hint of worry in her voice. "Peachy" Axel gave her a thumbs up.

Dirge nodded and started to walk towards them when she froze in her steps. "Dirge?" Roxas stepped forward. She turned around and looked up, only to see a Neo come down, claws first. Axel started for her, but reached the girl too late. He watched as she fell to the ground, clutching her arm and tears streaming from her eyes. Roxas ran to her as Axel turned to the Heartless.

"Damn you!" he hissed and clutched his fist. Focusing, his hand became inflamed in a ball of fire. Opening his fingers, he grabbed the dark creature by its neck and lifted it off the ground. It let out a silent screech as it tried to reach for Axel's hand, but the fire prevented that.

"BURN!" the controller of fire yelled, the fire on his hand automatically spreading onto the damned Shadow. It let out another loud cry of pain as it became engulfed in flames. The fire had turned dark then dispersed into the air, the demon along with it. He then immediately turned his attention to Dirge.

"Are you okay?" he leaned down to her.

"Y-yeah, it's just a small scratch" she tried to smile, a few tears running down her cheeks.

"It's a claw wound, but nothing too serious" Roxas reassured him. His friend examined the three long claw wounds, all three deep, but not as bad as he thought it would be.

"Does it hurt?" he questioned her. "A little, it stings a lot" she winced at the pain. She was trying to be strong and hold her crying back, but she couldn't help letting it out in short cries.

"Don't worry, you're gonna be fine" he picked her up and smiled down to her as Roxas stood up.

"You know Xemnas is gonna kill us, right?" Roxas asked, a vein of stress showing in his temple.

His friend's mood drop to the ground as he came to this realization. "Gee, Roxy. Thanks for the enlightening. Really helped me feel better" he said in a sarcastic tone.

"I'm so-" Axel closed Dirge's lips with a finger. "Not your fault. It was a surprise attack and we didn't see it coming" he informed her. She nodded and he released her lips.

"Lets just focus on getting that bandaged up, okay?" Roxas smiled.

Opening a corridor of darkness, he and Axel walked through, the older Nobody carrying the injured girl.

* * *

A/N: Huh. This was one of my shorter chapters, at least it felt that way to me. Yes, slipped in some comedy in there with Axel and all (he's my main man for comedy). Hahaha, Roadkill that Never Was. I don't think I thought that part up randomly while I was working on it. More updates later!


	8. Change of Plan

The blond rummaged through the drawers of the desk, looking for something. They had taken Dirge to the infirmary to be fixed up first before reporting to Xemnas, giving them a little more time. She sat on one of the patient beds with Axel by her side, holding her arm so he could examine it. It was still the same as before, deep and bleeding. She didn't seem to notice though, she kicked her legs while her head nodded happily to a song that he couldn't hear. Luckily, she had stopped crying minutes earlier.

"Hey Roxy, got the disinfectant yet?" Axel looked over Dirge to the boy at the desk.

"No, but it's here somewhere" his friend called back as he rummaged some more.

"Does it still hurt?" Axel then turned to Dirge.

"Yeah, it didn't start to hurt until a few minutes after it scratched me" she nodded, looking at the wound.

"That always seems to happen no matter what a person gets injured with" he sighed, laying his head on his free hand.

He looked back over to his friend, "Why don't we try putting hand sanitizer on it? Wouldn't that work?"

"Are you crazy!?" Roxas turned back around to his friend with both a shocked and angry expression, "You're not supposed to put hand sanitizer on a wound like that! It would kill her!" Dirge blinked in surprise and stopped kicking.

"Alright, alright, go back for your quest of the disinfectant" Axel shooed him with his hand to get back to what he was doing.

The door suddenly burst open and all three stopped to turn to the person who had done it. "And, you need?" Axel started, shaking his head in a way that said "Did you really need to do that?"

"She's bleeding isn't she?" Zexion asked as he stood in the doorway, hand still on the slammed door.

"Yeah, that's why we're in here looking for disinfectant" Roxas leaned against the desk.

"Hi Zexion!" she waved happily with her uninjured arm.

"What happened?" he walked over to them, amazingly still calm.

"We had a little mishap with one of the Neos out there. We thought we had cleared them all, but a leftover attacked Dirge from above and she got scratched" Axel explained as Zexion got a closer look at her arm. He nodded and turned to the black haired girl, "Are you alright?" She nodded as well, "It hurts and stings a little, but I'm okay." "Good" Zexion sighed in relief and sat on the opposite side of her.

"Found it!" Roxas held up the medical spray in his hands and walked back over with it and a roll of bandages.

"What does that stuff do?" she looked up to Axel.

"It keeps Xemnas from chopping off your arm should it get infected" he explained casually.

Dirge looked up to him with a shocked and worried expression. Zexion and Roxas glared at him as he gave them a look of confusion. "What?"

"Okay, this might sting a little" Roxas took the cap off the bottle and aimed at the three cuts.

She shut her eyes tightly and looked away as Roxas pressed down on the nozzle. It touched her wounds and immediately began to sting at the torn skin. She let out a muffled cry as she kept her lips closed. He sprayed again at the end of the cuts and her eyes tightened so much more that they began to hurt. The nozzle moved up to the top of the cuts and shot out the beads of disinfectant, she clutched onto the bed sheets.

"All done!" Roxas replaced the cap to the spray bottle. Dirge let out a sigh of relief as Axel took out the roll and began to wrap up the wound.

"Aren't you a brave little soldier?" Zexion ruffled her hair, making her smile.

"Little soldier in a pitch black suit" Axel laughed as he tied the bandage up in a bow.

"But can you two be soldiers against Xemnas' wrath?" Zexion looked up to the two, a small smirk on his lips. Roxas and Axel's stomachs dropped somewhere low in their bodies. How were they going to tell him about Dirge's injury? And what would he do to them for that matter? It was like two boys about to go into a mother bear's den to apologize for killing her cub.

* * *

"What did I tell you to do in that note?" Xemnas asked, his tone spiced with anger as he firmly said his words.

Roxas and Axel sat in two chairs in front of Xemnas' desk. Zexion had decided to stay in the back of the room, next to the door in the shadow of a bookcase. His arms were crossed as he leaned against the case, the smirk still on his lips as he watched in amusement. Roxas looked down and fumbled with his fingers in nervousness. Axel laid back in the chair and crossed his arms in order to look casual. He was still nervous, but he was used to getting in trouble with Xemnas. Dirge was sitting on the floor next to the desk, playing with her plushie as Xemnas scolded the two Nobodies.

"And we did protect her! It's just that an extra one jumped off the roof of the store and lashed out at her. We didn't even know it was there!" Axel tried to explained.

"We thought we had cleared the area," Roxas looked up, "but we were wrong" his gaze fell back onto his fingers.

Xemnas sighed and looked to the little girl next to him, "Is this true, Dirge?" She looked up to him and nodded. "Your arm" he put his hand in asking for her arm. She lifted her arm up and he gently took it, examining the work and feeling around the bandage for the said wounds. "It's not as bad as you think it would be. It was deep, but not very threatening" Axel uncrossed his arms and pointed to the wound. "So I see" he gently let her arm go so she could get back to her play. "But judging by the feel of it, she might need stitches" he gave them a serious look. A small sense of shock went up the chests of Dirge, Axel, Roxas, and even Zexion.

"We're sorry!" Roxas burst out, clutching his fists in his lap. Axel gave him a disgusted look that said "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"It's alright. Judging by the way it looks, how you took care of it, and that Dirge seems to be okay for now, I'll let you off the hook" the angry tone in their leader's voice seemed to subside. They let out a small sigh of relief.

"But I'm guessing you didn't finish your mission, did you?" he knew the obvious answer as he crossed his arms and laid back in the chair. Axel _hated_ that he got the better chair. He wanted that chair. The two Nobodies groaned and nodded to confirm Xemnas' suspicion. "We got about partway done" Roxas mumbled. "I thought so" he sighed and looked back to Dirge then back to the boys. "You'll have to go back and finish the rest. However, I'm excluding Dirge" he stopped to see Dirge next to him with the moogle plushie on her head. He ruffled her head back down and continued, "Will be excluded from the rest of the mission due to her injury. This should make your objective a lot easier since you won't have to worry about her."

The two nodded, but Axel leaned forward a little bit. "So, you're going to be looking after her while we're gone?"

Xemnas gave him a look that said "You've got to be kidding me." He opened one of the desks on his side and revealed a stack of paperwork and shoved it to him. "Unfortunately, no" he answered.

"Then who will?" Roxas asked.

"Somebody more responsible; possibly Saix, or Xigbar-"

"Xigbar's not responsible" Axel stopped him.

"Then maybe Lexaeus"

"He's not even mature"

"Vexen"

"Old and not cool. You saw the way she eyed him"

"Luxor-"

"Drunk bastard; you said it yourself"

"Right. Larxe-"

"Bitch"

Xemnas eyed him with an irritable look. "I'll choose who'll watch Dirge" he said firmly.

"Xemnas, when do you think Dirge will be able to gain her own Nobody?" Zexion stepped out of the shadows, glancing at the girl trying to do a somersault on the ground. "Possibly not until she's able to gain her own element and weapon. Right now, she's somewhat powerless" he looked over to Zexion. The dark haired Nobody sighed, "Who knows when that'll be?"

"That's why we must have patience" he slowly got up from his chair, "Since she became a Nobody a short while ago, of course it will take a while for her powers to develop. And," he stopped and picked Dirge up from the floor, setting her in his chair, "she's still a child. Not only is her body developing, but Dirge herself" he set a hand softly on her head.

"I like her better in that chair than you!" Axel pointed to the little girl in the big chair. She blinked at this opinion and giggled as she tried to look business like. Xemnas let out a small chuckle before getting back to business. "Would you like to watch over her Zexion?" the Superior looked over to the pale-ish Nobody near the bookcase. He sighed and gave small shake of the head. "I have other work to attend to, but I'll be around to watch over her" he answered with a small smile on his lips.

"Too caught up in your book to handle this?" Axel poked at Dirge's cheek. He didn't know why he always poked at her cheek except for the fact that it was somewhat addicting.

Zexion frowned and narrowed his eyes. "Tell me Axel, why are you allowed to live?" A small chill shot up Axel's spine. Just the way he said that made it more threatening then it was supposed to be.

"So, who're you gonna leave her with?" Roxas turned to Xemnas. The Superior Nobody slipped open another drawer. Next to a stack of papers and other office supplies was a remote control looking device. On it were several buttons with different colors marked on each one along with a matching light. Holding it out, he pressed a yellow button. The yellow light started to flash. "I just called him" he leaned against the desk.

Within a few minutes, an explosion of darkness appeared behind the two boys, someone standing in the diminishing dark fog. Once it had cleared, Axel winced at who stood in the aftermath. The man bowed a little in respect for Xemnas, and turned to Zexion to acknowledge him too. "You called me" Saix turned back to his Superior. Xemnas nodded, "Dirge, you remember Saix don't you?" he leaned down to the little girl and gestured to the blue haired man. She nodded shyly.

"You must be out of your mind to leave her with him!" the redhead pointed to the scarred man. He let out a growl and came closer to the desk.

"Dirge will be staying with you for a while. I gave Roxas, Axel, and Dirge a mission, but she unfortunately got injured along the way" he explained.

"I thought something was off; the moment I stepped in here I caught the scent of blood" Saix stopped and glared at Axel, "You should know better than to let her get hurt like that."

"Shut up!" Axel shot up out of his seat. "Enough!" Xemnas raised his voice. They both calmed down and Axel returned to his seat.

"Saix, the attack was an accident. They had made sure they had cleared the area, but one came when the coast was clear" he explained to Lunar Diviner. Understanding it, he turned back to Axel and strained an apologetic face, "My _apologies Axel" _he said through clenched teeth. "_Apology accepted SAI-x" _Axel did the same way.

"_So, _Dirge will be with you until Axel and Roxas return" he restated as he motioned to Dirge.

"I'll be sure to take care of her" he made a little bow again.

"Suck up" the redhead coughed with is fist to his mouth, receiving another glare from Saix.

"Uh, sir. CeresCeres" Roxas tapped his forehead with his finger. He nodded in understanding what he meant. "Saix, Zexion, could you two come over here? I have to inform you of something" Xemnas walked around the desk to a small corner of the office, the other two Nobodies following him. They began to talk lowly amongst themselves so that Dirge wouldn't be able to hear. An occasional glance back to her from Saix and Zexion made her even more confused.

"Hey Dirge" Axel snapped his fingers to get her attention. She turned to him and leaned closer on the desk. "Be careful around Saix. He may not look like it, but he's a _beast"_ he hid the right side of his lips with his right hand in case the the other three overheard.

"A beast?" she looked at him with a confused look. How could he be a beast? He looked almost perfectly normal.

"Yeah, he may not look so threatening during the day, but at night-" Axel stopped and shivered in discomfort.

"What does he do at night?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Well, how do I put this? Saix is more...animal-like at night" Roxas scratched the back of his head in thought.

"He's an animal?" she said as she was still in a sea of confusion.

"More like wolfish type beast thing if you catch my drift" Axel eyed the blue haired man. Saix twitched his ear and looked back at the three from the corner of his eye. Axel jerked up and sat forward, eying Saix the same way. She nodded slowly, sort of understanding what he meant.

"Axel, what if Saix eats her?" Roxas took his friend by the arm and whispered into his ear. Axel gulped and turned to him, "Then we prepare for a funeral."

Dirge looked between the group of three in the corner and the pair in front of her, still confused about what they were talking about. A few minutes later, the mini meeting had ended and all three walked back over. "Alright, I'll handle Dirge. You two focus on getting back to work" Saix picked Dirge up out of the chair. She shrieked happily and wagged her busy tail. Her carrier couldn't help but smile at that.

"We'll finish up as fast as we can" Roxas nodded.

"Good. Report to me when you're done and I'll call up Saix and Dirge" Xemnas nodded as Axel and Roxas stood up from their chairs.

"Sir!" the officers said in unison, Axel looking around in confusion. "What is this, the army?" he shook his head in disgust.

"You get better soon, Dirge. We'll see you later" Roxas ruffled her hair. She nodded happily as he turned away from her and walked with is partner to the door. "Bye Roxy! Bye Axie!" she waved. The other three Nobodies snickered at the two nicknames. Axel stopped in his place and hunched his shoulders up to his ears in embarrassment. _'Not around these guys, Dirge'_ he complained in his head. "We'll see you later too Dirge" he looked back and gave a small wave. Together the two Nobodies disappeared into a corridor of darkness, and Dirge all of a sudden felt nervous again. She hadn't really parted from them the whole day and now being without them returned her to her original state.

"Do you want to do something fun Dirge?" Saix asked as he looked down to her with bright goldish eyes. She looked up to him and nodded shyly; her silence had returned.

"She must be more used to being around Axel and Roxas" Zexion smiled a little and poked her cheek. "She'll soon have to get used to everyone in this Castle" Xemnas dropped back into his seat and sighed. "Might as well get her started" Saix looked over to him and shrugged. She held her plushie tightly.

* * *

**A/N:** Alright, we get it! It won't kill her! -takes deep breath- Yeeeeaaaah. This chapter seemed short and uneventful a whole lot. Must be the papaya! But more will happen in the next chapter. Points for anybody who caught the Sailor Moon reference. More later!


	9. A Stroll with Saix

Dirge was held firmly in his arms as they walked down the hall. He had decided to walk down the hallways instead of teleport everywhere with Dirge even though he was more advanced at it then Axel or Roxas. The little girl looked around while she was carried since she still hadn't seen some of the Castle. Saix smiled to himself at her curiosity.

"Would you like a snack?" he looked down to her. She nodded shyly. He chuckled at her response, "You don't have to be so silent when Roxas and Axel aren't around. Nobody is going to hurt you" he pet her hair. _'And I'll make sure to get that through to everyone'_ he growled in his mind. "I'm just used to being around Axel and Roxas" she said quietly as she held her plushie. "Soon you'll have to be used to everybody in this castle. No matter how crazy or ignorant they are" he sighed, a small vein revealing itself in his temple.

Upon entering the kitchen, they noticed Xigbar sitting at the table with a root beer float in a tall cup decorated with purple and black swirls and stripes. Manly. He was currently reading the comics in the newspaper, but heard somebody walk in. "Yo" he said without looking up. "Xigbar" Saix nodded and walked over to the food pantry. "Hi Xigbar!" Dirge said cheerfully.

Reaching the pantry door, he gently set Dirge down on her feet and opened it. "Would you like a fruit snack?" he walked in and looked back at her, starting for the higher shelves. "Yes, please" she waved the handless arm of her plushie to her. The Lunar Diviner smiled and started to search for the box of the said snacks he knew he had in there. As she waited, Dirge wandered over to the the counter not too far away from the door. Behind it, there were no chairs to sit at the counter. Due to her small size, she wasn't tall enough to see over it as only a peek of her hair could be seen from the other side.

Looking at her moogle curiously, an idea formed in her mind. She tossed it up onto the counter, the plushie landing on its back on the surface. Xigbar looked up from his reading and over to the counter's direction. It didn't look like anybody was over there except for Saix being in the pantry, still looking for the fruit snacks. He turned back to his comics. Dirge pulled herself up enough onto the counter to make sure that the moogle had landed before dropping herself back down onto the floor. For some reason, she felt uncomfortable the way her stuffed animal lay on the counter, and looked around for a solution. A silver napkin dispenser caught her eye. She pulled herself up again and reached for it. Her hand couldn't get to it all the way, but she was able to edge it closer with the tips of her fingers.

Happily, she moved it close enough to her that most of her hand could move it. Xigbar took a look inside his cup too see he needed a refill. Sighing, he stood up and made his way over to the fridge. Opening it, he took out the two liter bottle of root beer and held it between his arm and his chest. He then turned to the freezer and took out a carton of pure vanilla ice cream, holding it in his hand as he went over to the counter. Unbeknown to him, Dirge was still on the other side of the counter with the napkin dispenser. He set the containers down next to the plushie just as Dirge lifted the back of its head and slipped the napkin dispenser under it.

"HOLY CRAP!" he shrieked and fell backwards, scrambling frantically back to the table. He had only seen the plushie move and not Dirge's hand. Holding a hand to his empty chest, he breathed in panicked short breaths.

"What's wrong?" Saix asked from the pantry, not bothering to look at his frightened companion.

"Th-tha-that moogle toy thing...!" he started as he shakily pointed to the toy that was now in a somewhat sitting position. "It-that-the moogle plush just freaking moved!" he finished his sentence just as Demyx had walked in.

"M-m-moo-gle plu...sh" his eyes widened as he looked in the direction the Freeshooter was looking in. The plush was still in its upright position before slipping a little to the side.

Both boys cried out in fright and raced out the door, struggling to balance themselves as they ran from the room. Saix finally peeked out of the door and looked to where Xigbar had been, only to see his paper left untouched. He turned to Dirge who was looking around the corner curiously.

"What was that all about?" he asked as he pulled out the box of fruit snacks. She shrugged. They jumped at a sudden crash and a person's shriek. "Get off of me!" Larxene screamed as the two Nobodies laid on top of her. Noticing they had landed on the most violent member of their team, they immediately got back on their feet, but still shook with fear with what they had seen.

"Gosh DAMMIT! What the fuck is wrong with you two?" she got up and dusted herself off while glaring at the other two.

"The moogle-just sat up automatically!" Xigbar pointed excitedly to the way they had come from.

"It really is a zombie!" Demyx held his head as if it were going to explode and holding it would keep it together.

Larxene turned her head slightly and narrowed her eyes in a look of confusion. "What?"

"They shake out its organs and rip off its skin and give it to-it's a zombie!" Demyx rushed through his panicked words. Xigbar fell into his words and stared at him wide eyed.

Larxene shook her head with confusion and flipped her antennae like bangs back. "As much as I'd love to stick around to see what you've been drinking, I gotta go" she thumbed their way and began walking to the kitchen.

"Thank you!" Dirge smiled as Saix handed her a small pack of animal fruit snacks just as Larxene walked in.

"Oh, it's you two" she said as she casually walked in and over to the freezer. Dirge nervously held back a greeting as she remembered how Larxene had talked about her earlier. Saix gave her a small glance before picking Dirge up and walking out of the kitchen, the little girl quickly grabbing her plushie as she was lifted.

"What's wrong with the both of you?" Saix stopped in the hallway at the two men who were still quivering with fear in their places. They kept silent and only eyed the plushie as Saix shrugged and decided to leave them alone. Dirge raised an eyebrow in confusion.

* * *

The two were in the hallways again, Dirge enjoying her fruit snacks while Saix carried her in his arms. He didn't know why he carried her even though she had offered to walk herself; he just felt comfortable with her in his arms. Even though they were moving, the 'X' scarred man had really no idea where they were exactly heading to. All he had done was walk out of the kitchen with her, but he hadn't really planned on where to go to yet so he decided to walk aimlessly until an idea came to mind.

"Dammit!" a voice yelled an anger from not too far away. Saix calmly looked up ahead to see a large brown medieval like door with a stream of smoke flowing from under it.

"Fire?" Dirge looked worried at the smoke. He shook his head, "No, just Vexen up to something" he started to head for the door. He knocked with the back of his hand, "Are you alright Vexen?" he asked calmly, not showing total concern. All that answered back was coughing and something moving around.

Saix opened the door to a cloud of smoke rushing out into his and Dirge's face. They began to cough wildly, Saix pressing Dirge into his chest so that she wouldn't breath it in. Quickly, he reached into his coat and pulled out two handkerchiefs, one for Dirge and the other for him. He ventured into the black smog, trying to see his way through by illuminating his eyes. The sound of something metal hit the ground could be heard through the smoke and somebody moving away from them, stumbling by the way they were walking.

"Vexen!" Saix coughed with the handkerchief still up to his mouth. Coughing answered his call. Already having enough of the smoke, he took a deep breath and summoned his claymore to the hand that once held his handkerchief. Drawing in his strength, he pulled the weapon back and swept it up. The smoke in front of them retreated to the sides as the rush of air struck through it. The Chilly Academic rushed into the clearing and over to the wall, flipping on a switch. Above, the sound of a silent motor running and the feeling of the air moving downward filled the room as the ceiling fan began to blow away the smoke.

The room, finally cleared, revealed a distraught soot smudged Vexen. Around the room, his tables were dusted with soot and some lab supplies were on the floor. Dirge removed her handkerchief and looked up and around from Saix's chest. "Another failed experiment?" Saix wiped some of the soot off of his and Dirge's face.

"No!" Vexen growled, coughing out the last of the soot in his lungs. "Axel!"

Saix sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "What did he do this time?"

"Axel," Vexen started as he walked over to a metal table, "decided to pull a prank on me, by putting soot and ash in my steam producer. And I just turned it on in the middle of pouring a very important substance into a beaker!" he ranted as he began to pick up the fallen supplies. Saix shook his head in shame; when would Axel learn to leave people alone?

"Are you a scientist?" Dirge watched as he put the supplies back on a wooden lab table.

"Why yes, I am a scientist. The only one here as a matter a fact" the dirty blond looked over to the raven haired girl.

"So you make experiments in here?" she looked around at the lab, the ceiling having a skylight window and spotlight-like lights spread out around it.

"Yes I do. And if you know better than Axel, than you won't come in here and mess around without my permission" he began to examine the steam burner, cringing at the sight of soot and ash mixed together in the water compartment.

"I doubt she will, will you?" Saix looked down to her. She shook her head, making him smile.

"Speaking of Axel, where is he? On a mission?" Vexen turned his attention back to the other two. Saix nodded. "Well he's in for a rude awakening when he gets back. He'll pay for messing with my equipment" he clenched his teeth as he glanced around the room.

"Please don't hurt him!" Dirge looked over to him, drawing her tail close to her and Saix's body. Vexen tilted his head in curiosity and began to step forward. "What is up with this whole tail thing? There is no known Nobody has the tail of an animal's" he got closer and examined the the bushel of fur. Dirge looked a little concerned as Saix felt a little worried for her. "It is sort of unusual" he agreed with the scholar.

"Is this thing even real?" he felt around it with his fingers and tugged lightly on it. Dirge tightened her grip onto Saix; she wasn't liking it, and he understood.

"Perhaps I could run some tests to see if she's even human" Vexen said slowly as he moved his interest upward. Suddenly, she felt her jacket lift and her pants slowly be pulled down. Vexen was trying to sneak a peek into her pants. Catching this, Saix jumped back and crouched down on one knee, clutching Dirge tightly to his chest. His eyes illuminated a deep gold as he bared his canine like teeth while his hair bristled and he let out a low growl. The poor girl had no idea he was about to go berserk.

Vexen looked shocked for a moment. "I will not let you violate her in such a manner" Saix growled in a deep hoarse voice.

"Please, stop trying to look at my butt" Dirge called, slightly wagging her tail.

"Alright! Alright! I won't do anything to her" Vexen sighed and crossed his arms angrily.

Saix calmed down and stood back up. "Dirge may be different from us, but she is still one of us. There are many things we have in common as a group. We shouldn't let one little thing become another one of your examination experiments" he pet Dirge's hair.

"Well Sor-Rie for being curious" Vexen turned around and stomped his foot childishly.

"I don't want to see you trying another stunt like that on her, you understand?" Saix pointed as he turned to leave.

"Hmph, you've got some nerve talking to a superior officer like that Number Seven" Vexen glanced back at him as he left.

"Well, I'm not the dirty old man of the Organization now am I?" Saix smirked as he left.

"Respect your elders!" Vexen turned around and pointed just as the two were out of sight. He walked back over to his beakers and test tubes, but mischievously looked out the door after them.

* * *

Saix continued his stroll down the hall with Dirge, now having the idea of heading straight for his room than stay out and encounter more of the disgraceful members of the Castle. The girl laid against his shoulder with her plushie up against him, still awake but her eyelids felt a little heavy. He knew how she felt, he was getting a little tired as well. The first thing she would probably do when they reached his room was cuddle up against the bedsheets and fall asleep for a nap.

His room was just down the hallway. All he had to do was get past the other members' rooms and they'd be home free. At least, that's how it seemed.

Up ahead, a door was open with a light pinkish light spilling out of it. Flower petals drifted from the room and onto the floor. The fragrance of different perfumes and flower scents filled the air and slightly burned both his and Dirge's senses. The light on the floor also showed a shadow moving within the room. Saix sighed, he knew who was going to be up next but casually tried ignore it and walked a little faster on his way. Suddenly, the shadow of something short and hairy looking appeared inside the doorway. Number 7 slowed his pace in curiosity of whatever it was; the owner of the room was definitely not that short.

It suddenly jumped and moved out into the hallway. "What in the world?" Saix gasped at the sight. Dirge looked over to what he was looking at and blinked. A bushel of grass stood before them, a single red rose head sticking out on its topside. The man eyed it suspiciously and slowly began to take tiny steps to the side. He wasn't really sure what it was, besides a ball of grass nor did it know what the man was.

"Keep still Dirge" he whispered to her. She obeyed and kept her body still, watching as it eyed them. It seemed to follow him as the berserker slid to the right when it suddenly jumped at them. Saix was too slow to dodge out of the way and received a face full of grass. Unfortunately, it wasn't after him, it was after Dirge.

She tried to push it away, but it somehow held strong on her. It ruffled and shook, flurrying its grass everywhere in their faces as it blinded them and somewhat scratched them. As quickly as the attack occurred, it was over. The creature jumped happily in the pink light before scurrying back into the room. Saix, with an annoyed expression, spit out a chunk of grass that had gotten caught in his mouth. Dirge shook her head free of the grass that had gotten caught in her hair.

"Well that was oddly random. Are you alright?" he brushed back his hair with is hand. Dirge checked herself over and was about to nod when she stopped, noticing something obviously wrong. He found out soon after as well that something was missing. Dirge's stuffed plushie.

"Moggy!" she called out, looking around for it.

"I've got the feeling that that grass creature took your stuffed animal" Saix looked around for the lost plushie.

"The grass bush took Moggy?" she turned to him, tears starting to well up in her gold eyes.

"Don't worry, we'll get it back" he pet her hair as he entered into the room.

It was a pink apalooza. The walls were pink, the bedsheets were pink and black with red roses on them, the carpet also had a darker tint of pink to it mixed with some black. The T.V. was a pinkish color as well as the ceiling fan blades. The ceiling fan light bulbs tinted pink as they were held in rose shaped light bulb holders. It was any sane person's nightmare. At the foot of the bed, the grass creature was tossing the moogle plushie up and down somehow as Saix stepped in.

"Alright you, hand it over" he put his hand out to it. It turned to him, but kept the plushie in its "grassp."

"Please give me my plushie back" Dirge asked nicely with the tone of a child who was about to cry, cause she was. It came a little closer, but still didn't give up the toy.

"Give it back now or I'll make sure my claymore shreds you bits" the scarred man growled as he now demanded the toy. It jump back a little and made a barking sound. "Huh?" the two said at the same time in confusion. Didn't see that coming.

"You really should knock next time" Marluxia said as he walked out of the bathroom, a forest green light illuminating from the somewhat private room.

"The door was open, how could we have knocked? Anyway, we just came to get Dirge's plushie back from this...thing" Number 7 pointed to the grass bush on the bed.

"It's not a thing! It's my loveable, planty, and happy companion!" Marluxia snatched it up and huggled it. "Well your happy companion just so happens to have Dirge's companion in it's...thing" Saix nodded to the plushie. Marluxia looked down to the grass with the toy and came to the realization. "Give it here" he put his hand out to it. It made a whine sound, but reluctantly gave it up. "Here" he handed it to Dirge. She received it happily and cuddled it with love.

"What is that thin-what is that anyway?" Saix eyed the strange grass animal thing. "Isn't he cute!" Marluxia held it up to them. Suddenly, four short white furry legs popped out the bottom of the bush. A curled white tail with green vines wrapped around it popped out its backside. The head of a white German Spitz also emerged in front of them and it panted happily to see the two before it. "Doggy!" Dirge pet its head.

"What is it now?" Saix twitched an eye in confusion. "It's my Chia Pet!" Marluxia beamed happily. It fell so quiet in the room, even though Dirge was still petting the dog-grass hybrid, that they could hear the Dusks walking and slithering by. Wandering crickets had the sound of a sonic boom. The sound of Death having a cup of coffee could almost be heard.

"A...Chia Pet?" Saix said slowly as he tried to understand. "Yep! Vexen helped me bring it to life! His name is Pom Pom!" Marluxia happily danced around with the Chia in his hands.

"Maybe we should reserve a seat for you in an asylum" Saix watched him dance with his pet. Marluxia automatically stopped and glared at him, "Don't be a sucker" he pet his Chia lovingly...almost obsessively.

"Let's go Dirge" the blue-haired man turned and darted out the door as quickly as he could.

* * *

"Here we are" Saix opened the door to his room. Dirge began to look around in curiosity again, though she was still tired. Everything was neat and in order; his bed was placed next to glass window doors that led to an outside deck, the curtains were a silky white. A desk with a computer on it sat in the corner of the room next to the door. Casual.

He walked in and took his boots off next to the door, revealing his black socks, before walking over to his bed. Carefully, he set her down up close to the pillow, petting her hair a little. She looked up to him with tired eyes and wagged her tail a little bit.

"You can take a nap if you want to. You look a little tired from your day" he smiled. She nodded and made a small yawn. "You can go under the sheets as well if you want, I don't mind" he walked over to the computer desk.

Sleepily, she slipped off her boots and crawled under the sheets, laying on the mattress in exhaustion. Saix looked back at her and chuckled to himself as he took a seat at the desk, quietly turning on the computer. Found by a Sorcerer, having breakfast with the group, watching a fight, collapsing from a condition oblivious to her, going out on her first mission and being attacked, walking around the castle and seeing a few of the members. All of this and she had barely entered the afternoon. What a day.

* * *

"Augh!" Roxas groaned as he and his partner walked through the streets.

"Just be thankful this mission is almost over. After we're done, I'll go buy you another chocolate bar" Axel looked to his blond haired friend.

"It's not fair that the Shadows always take my candy!" the blond pouted as he crossed his arms. Behind him, a small group of Neos and regular Shadows seemed to be pointing and snickering at the childish boy. Sensing them, he turned around and tried to charge at them, but they escaped into the ground.

"It's not fair! It's not fair!" Roxas began to sniff as tears ran down his face.

"Aw, come 'ere Roxy! I can make you feel better" Axel came up behind him and began to hug him playfully. Roxas immediately grabbed his arm and flipped him in front of him. "I don't need that kind of comfort, thanks" he wiped his tears on his gloves.

"Y'know if Dirge were here, she'd probably get upset at you and beat your ass" Axel rolled over and looked up at him with a smirk on his face.

"You know she wouldn't" Roxas spit his tongue out.

"Well, she'd still be mad at you!" the redhead pointed.

"When was the last time she got mad Axel?" Roxas smirked with his tongue still out.

"Shut up and quit winning!" his friend got up from the ground and dusted himself off.

"Still...I wonder how she's doing" he looked to the direction of the castle with a worried look.

"I'm sure she's doing just fine. It's not like she's being tortured or anything" Axel crossed his arms and looked in the same direction.

"Fine? You say "fine?" We left her with Saix for Pete Sake! _SAIX_" Roxas shouted at his friend. Axel suddenly shivered at the thought.

"Lets just finish this up as fast as we can. If we keep it up now, we'll be able to make it in time for dinner" Axel hoisted Roxas onto his shoulder and began to walk again, Roxas crossing his arms as he loathed, hated, and any other synonyms the ride.

* * *

**A/N: **Well this chapter was built on utter and complete randomness, especially the "Chia Pet" part. No idea where that came from, but behold I have done the unthinkable. As for the look of a German Spitz, I suggest looking it up if you don't know what it looks like, but it is pretty cute. Anyways, more later. Thank you and review! Also I don't own Chia Pets; thought I'd put that down here so I wouldn't spoil the surprise.


	10. So How Was Your Day?

Saix put a hand to his mouth as he yawned before letting his hand drop back onto the keyboard for more typing. He had been on the computer for hours and fatigue was already creeping up on him. It was late into the night, but he had gotten onto the machine in the early noon. Bad for the health. He could almost feel his eyes about to roll out of his head and onto the keyboard. At the slight thought of that happening, he rubbed his eyes and looked back to the bed.

Dirge was still sleeping peacefully within the sheets. The exhaustion from that day had shown up in her sleeping so long. She hadn't woken up at all during the hours she had been in the room. Though, this did somewhat worry him as he thought about it. No getting up to go to the bathroom, she missed lunch, and she hadn't woken up on her own.

...No bathroom break...What if she was a bed wetter? She could've already soiled his nice clean sheets already! And if it seeped into the sheets to the mattress...Ohohohohohoho how would he deal with that? He'd have to sleep on the floor or the lounge couch for weeks until a new mattress arrived!

...What if she's dead...? Even worse! The last thing the body does before dying is...Eew! That'd be horrible! He didn't exactly remember doing that the day he died, but he's heard it had happened before. And the smell! The smell of death swimming in his sheets...! Tragic; not only for Dirge, but his mattress and sheets as well as him. Truly tragic. And just how would he tell Xemnas, the man who had entrusted him with the girl, that she was dead? He would go even more berserk than he could and freak!

He shook his head of the disgusting thoughts. That wouldn't happen in any way; Dirge was a smart child, she would know when to get up and do her business. Plus she looked past the age of bed wetting; he had nothing to worry about. Tiredly, he turned back to his computer and continued to type.

"WHERE IS SHE YOU DEMON?" the door suddenly bust down. In the midst of the doorway stood the spiky redhead with his spiky haired friend with their weapons out, showing off their spiky spikes spikels spik spike spikes.

Saix turned to them angrily and shushed them. "Was that really necessary?" he whispered.

"IN MY BOOK IT IS! WHERE IS SHE?" Axel yelled at the blue haired man again for no reason.

He shushed him again and pointed to the bed with one hand, putting the index finger of his other to his lips. Axel raised an eyebrow, slightly confused by what this meant. "Axel" Roxas whispered from the bed. His friend didn't even notice him walk into the room, he had been so quiet. The redhead walked over to the bed, noticing the black hair on the pillow and the quiet breathing as he got closer. They both leaned down on the side and took a look at who was in the sheets.

"Oh, she's sleeping" Axel finally came onto whispering for the little girl's sake. Saix sunk his face into the palm of his hands. The _idiot. _

"She must've been really tired. She's had a day" Roxas looked up to his friend.

"How long has she been sleeping for?" Axel looked back over to the man at the computer.

"Several hours. She hasn't gotten up to use the restroom or eat; she's just been sleeping" Saix answered as he turned back to his computer. "Yeesh, no bathroom break? She must have a bladder of pure steel" Roxas chuckled. "Or she already wet his sheets" Axel smirked as he looked over to Saix. A growl came from the computer. He _heard_ that.

"Time she woke up though. Dinner's almost ready" the blond put his hand on her head and pet her a little. She still slept.

"Hey, Dirge. Time to get up, Shortstuff" Axel gently shook her. No response.

"Wakey wakey, sleepyhead" Roxas poked at her nose. She wrinkled it a little and laid on her other side.

"Dirge. Naptime's over!" Axel raised his voice as he stood up. Still asleep.

"She's really knocked out of it" Roxas stood up and crossed his arms.

"Seriously. What'd ya do Saix? Give her a spiked drink while we were away?" Axel looked over to the man. He turned around and tried to hold back a snarl, but it was somewhat hard to do. "C'mon Dirge. Aren't you hungry?" Roxas also raised his voice. Not waking up.

A sudden idea sparked in Axel's mind. Quietly, he leaned forward against the bed and looked around over Dirge for something. His eyes finally spotted it and he stretched his hand out to the item. With his hand on the moogle plushie, he slowly began to pull it out of her grasp. Feeling her companion leave her, she quickly clutched onto the plushie and rolled over.

"Dirge, you awake?" Roxas took the opportunity to ask while she had shown a sign of waking up. "Ngh, huh?" she peeked open her eyes. "Finally" Axel sighed in relief. She stretched her small body under the sheets and laid her head against the pillow. "Roxy? Axey?" she yawned.

"Well haven't you been asleep for forever and a day?" Axel leaned down with a smirk on his face.

"I was?" she shot up, but quickly fell back onto the pillow; fatigue would not let her recover so quickly as long as it was still around. "No, only a couple of hours. You hungry?" Roxas knelt down to her level with a smile plastered on his face. She yawned again and nodded. Happily, he lifted her up into her arms; her head rested on his shoulder against his neck and her bottom rested on his arm. "Then lets go to dinner."

They started to head for the door when Dirge looked over to Saix at the computer. "Thanks for taking care of me" she waved tiredly. He gave small smile to her as they left.

"So Dirge, how was your day?" Axel looked to her as he crossed his arms behind his head. "Confuzzling" she answered, closing her eyes again. "Confuzzling? How was it like that?" Roxas looked down to her.

"First, Demyx and Xigbar ran away from the kitchen and stood in the hallway with a really scared look" she started. The two boys had just entered her story and they were lost already. Just what the heck were they so freaked out about? Demyx, they could understand could be easily freaked about almost everything, but Xigbar...it would take a lot to scare him. _A lot._

"What scared them?" Roxas finally asked. He wanted to know; he _had _to know!

"I dunno" he felt her shake his head on his shoulder. Greeeeaat.

"What else happened?" Axel wanted to continue on with her story. "We went into Vexen's lab" she started again, nuzzling closer to Roxas. "No fair! When I first joined, Vexen wouldn't even let me come near the door to his lab!" Axel crossed his arms and pouted.

"Why'd you go into Vexen's lab?" Roxas asked, starting to get into the confuzzling. "Saix saw soot coming from under his door, so we went inside to see what was wrong" she stopped to hear Axel snickering and covering his mouth to stop the giggling. Roxas glared up at him; he knew had something to do with it.

"He wanted to look at my tail so he tried to look down my pants" she wagged her tail tiredly.

"WHAT!?" the boys stopped and looked down to her in surprise. She hadn't expected the stop and almost flung out of Roxas' arms. That woke her up. "He seriously tried to look down your pants?" Roxas asked. Looking up to them, she nodded. "Oh, that's it. That _is _it!" Axel cracked his knuckles and fisted his palm. "Ew" Dirge made a disgusted face at the sound of Axel's knuckles cracking. He started to fasten his pace down the hall.

"What're you about to do?" Roxas caught up to him. "I'm about to open a nice can of WHOOP ASS on that old pervert!" the redhead looked down to him. "Well, I wanna give it to him too, but can't we let Xemnas deal with it?" he asked as he stopped walking. It was true; Roxas wanted to nail that old perversious fart in his face, but he didn't want to get in trouble for it. "But I wanna do it!" Axel stopped and whined. Roxas shook his head in shame. Whining Axel? Fool, please!

"We'll just tell Xemnas about it dinner" his friend started to walk again. "Roxas no fun" Axel pouted some more as he walked with his friend. "Well, Axel no cool" the blond countered. The pouting continued. "I think you're cool Axel!" Dirge pat Number 8's arm. He turned to her and smiled as he pet her hair.

"Anything else happen today?" Roxas started. "Anymore perverts I should write down on my list?" Axel fisted his palm again with a somewhat threatening look on his face.

"A bushel of grass!" she started again. The boys gave her an odd look. "A bushel...of grass?" Roxas raised an eyebrow. She nodded in confirmation, "It took my Moggy!" The two boys were lost now. Completely lost in the sea of confusion while the boat, the S.S. What? and the S.S. Huh? sailed by while dropping their anchors 'What'd she just say?' and 'That doesn't make _any _sense' next to them.

"You sure Saix didn't spike a drink you wanted and gave it to you?" Axel pointed to her with a serious look. She tilted her head. "We went into Marluxia's room," the boys gave Oh's of realization and slapped their foreheads before chuckling a little, "and his Chia Pet gave me back Moggy" she raised the plushie for them to see.

The boys stopped again at the sound of the S.S. What? foghorn went off. "Chia...Pet?" Axel looked at her like she was crazy. "His Chia Pet...took your plushie?" Roxas said slowly, trying to confirm this. She nodded. The higher officers looked at each other before starting to walk again. "You have some imagination Dirge" Axel shook his head.

* * *

"Thanks for making us walk to pick up Dirge XEM-NASS!" Axel eyed the Superior at the head of the table once they walked into the dining room, who gave an irritated look in return. Several others were also in the room including Zexion, Lexaeus, Xigbar, Vexen, Luxord, and Saix who came in behind them. That only left Demyx, Larxene, Marluxia and Xaldin still out but that was okay; all at the table were early as dinner hadn't been announced. Axel, Roxas, and Dirge took their previous seats from that morning. It made them happy.

"So, how was your day?" Zexion looked over to Dirge with a small smile on his face.

"Confuzzling" the three said at the same time before looking oddly at each other and laughing a little. The others looked at them as if they had just eaten something inedible and lived.

"Alriiiiight" Zexion said with a small ounce of enthusiasm in his voice to make it sound like their day was actually fun.

"So is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Luxord laid back in his chair, rubbing his blond beard.

Axel and Roxas looked at each other, then to Dirge, then back to each other before shrugging. "Both?" she answered as she raised an eyebrow. "Sorta that in between type thing" Roxas answered.

"Well at least you got a chance to get away from those two for a while" Xemnas smiled to her. "But, I like being with Axel and Roxas" she took their hands. Roxas giggled happily and Axel tried to hide a smile. Everybody else shifted in their seats at the sight of the two acting in such a way. "You softy giggle fiends" Xigbar laughed from across the table. He received two glowing glares from the other side of the room.

"Might as well call everybody else here" Xemnas got up from his chair and walked in the direction of the kitchen.

Within a few minutes..."The rest of Organization XIII, get your ass down here pronto for dinner!" Roxas winced. More cussing.

Several minutes later, the rest of the members took their seats at the table and they altogether filled their plates. "So, how'd the rest of your guys day go?" Demyx asked as he put some gravy on his mashed potatoes. A lot, the mashed vegetable looked like a brown mountain. He couldn't help it, he _loved _gravy with a _passion._

"Mr. Superior," Axel looked over as Xemnas gave a small glare, "gave us a mission to go out and scout the city. Was going pretty well until Dirge got hurt" he looked down to her. Everybody suddenly stopped eating at the same time, even Xemnas, Saix, and Zexion looking over even though they had known this already. Dirge looked around in confusion and waved her injured arm, wrapped in bandages. And then verbal hell broke loose...

"How could you two let her get hurt like that?!" Luxord sat up straight in his chair.

"It wasn't our fault! See-"

"You two should be ashamed of yourselves!"

"Gee, coming from you Xaldin, that sounds like a disease"

"At least she's alright. Way to go Dirgey the little fighter!"

"You're so full of it Xigbar"

"Shut up bitch"

"Just how exactly did she get hurt?"

"A Neo came up when the coast was clear and slashed her when she walked out of the store"

"Poor baby"

"Gross! Coming from you, that sounds like something moldy Lexeaus!"

"Why do all the bad things happen when people leave _MY _room?"

"Maybe you're cursed!"

"I'm not cursed!...Am I?"

"Demyx is a witch! Lets burn him at the stake!"

"WHAT?! Now wait a minute!"

"Can someone else do the lighting? I hate being the one to light things when people die. Never for fireworks or anything"

"But I like Demie Demie!"

"Aw, thanks Dirge"

"Dirge just said she liked you, give her a Klondike bar"

"No! The last one in the fridge is mine!"

"Geez Larxene, don't have to be so friggin greedy"

"It has my name on it!"

"The wrapper's yours, but the bar is anybody's"

"What did you just say?"

"ENOUGH!" Xemnas smacked his fist into the table. Everybody stopped and looked to him like frightened puppies. "I'll have you all know that Dirge's injury and the matter of the attack have already been taken care of. She will recover soon enough and will be able to participate in missions again. Now may we please drop the matter?" he picked up his fork and knife again. They all nodded and got back to eating, but a cruel laugh broke them away from their meals. Who was it now that dare tear them away from foody goodness?

Larxene. She held her hand in front of her mouth to cover her lips, but everybody could see and _hear_ her obviously cracking up from her seat. Marluxia and Lexaeus scooted a little bit away from her. "But you gotta admit; the sight of her ACTUALLY getting hurt out there. And on her first day!" she broke out into laughter again while Roxas and Axel glared at her from across the table. It was about time to slap some ho!

"Will you just leave her alone? She's just a kid, she can't really defend herself out there. Not to mention she doesn't have an element or a weapon yet" Xigbar gave Larxene an angry look, but she ignored it as her laughter turned into giggles. "Oh stop it; you were thinking the same thing. She's so weak! Even I didn't get hurt on the first day. In fact, I killed 12 on _my _first day. I don't see her doing that" she pointed to the little girl.

Roxas glared at her more, his eyes glowing a light blue, but Dirge caught his attention. She looked slightly discouraged now and she seemed to be trying to disappear under the table. He gently wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close, giving her a small kiss on her forehead. Her esteem immediately boosted and she shot to him a hug.

"Number 12, are you going to keep lowering Dirge or do I have to remind you of what happened on Mardi Gras?" Xemnas shot her a look.

She blushed as the whole room, except for Dirge who didn't know what that was and Zexion who tried to stay as silent as possible, burst into laughter at the thought of what had happened the year before with Larxene _thinking _she was as drunk as hell and willing to do anything before passing out at the Wonderful World of Bacon Grease. Good times. _Good times._

Huffing, she got back to eating, faster than before. Soon everybody got back to eating, but yet another distraction came up a few minutes later, but luckily this one was important. When would they have peace?

"Hey Xemnas" Roxas whispered. He didn't hear him.

"Xemnas" he called again. Still no response.

"XEM-NAS" he strained on his whisper. I don't think so.

"SEX!" Roxas shot up from his seat and slammed his fists down onto the table. Everybody stared at him with an awkward and horrified look. "You read my mind!" Axel beamed happily, receiving a disgusted look from his blond friend. "Now that I got your attention...Vexen's a dirty old man!" he pointed to the long haired dirty blond. The said man dropped his fork and looked at him angrily.

"Well we knew that, so thanks for pointing that out Captain Obvious" Marluxia rolled his eyes as he took a bite of his steak. "He means he's a pervert! He was trying to look into DIRGE'S PANTS!" Axel shot up next to Roxas. And at his last words, Xemnas spit out his soda, choked and then hacked away. Everybody else stared and turned their shocked attention to Vexen.

"Oh yes, I've been meaning to tell you about that" Saix glanced to his Superior.

"Is this true?!" Xigbar shouted at the scientist. "Well, I was just...trying to see about this tail theo-" Vexen tried to explain nervously, but was cut off by his superior.

"You violated another member Number 4 and not just any member, a little girl!" Xemnas shot out of his seat. Verbal hell froze over yet again...

"I didn't mean for it to turn into something like this-"

"You should be ashamed of yourself you old pervert!"

"Even I wouldn't do that if I was a man! You keep away from me!"

"I wasn't doing _THAT_ type of stuff with her! I was jus-"

"Trying to sneak a peek at her panties?"

"TRYING to see if her tail was real"

"LlllIAR!"

"No soup for you!"

"Why don't we burn him at the stake?"

"Yeah!"

"How about Chinese water torture?"

"Even better!"

"I was just thinking of shooting the crap outta him"

"After he's dead maybe"

"He doesn't get the privilege to use the toilet!"

"Just as good!"

"Lock your doors at night! Vexen's a sex fiend!"

"WHAT?!"

"Axel, what's sex?"

"Something very complicated Dirge"

"Zexion, could you pass the biscuits?"

"He should have to do all the missions I get!"

"This is no excuse for laziness Luxord"

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH ALL OF YOU!?" Xemnas shouted to dismiss all the verbal attacks. Everybody quieted down, except for Dirge who had been quiet most of the time and was finishing up her mini steak.

"Number 4," he turned to the in deep trouble academic, "I will deal with you personally later. And as for the rest of you" he turned back to the others, "should any of you violate Dirge in such a way, I will personally rip you apart, drain you of your blood," Demyx fainted at this point, "and toss your remains either in the trash, down the toilet, or to the dogs! Understand?" he asked through clenched teeth. Everybody nodded except Dirge and of course the passed out Demyx.

"May your tongues swell to the size of a football and all your hair fall out" he slowly sat back down, Marluxia, Larxene, and Axel holding their heads with Zexion looking slightly concerned.

"Yay!" Dirge said quietly. She was the first one done out of all of them. Axel ruffled her hair and Roxas poked her cheek. "You know what to do?" Xemnas looked to her with a smile on his lips. What? He calmed down already? She nodded and picked up her utensils, plate, and glass scurried into the kitchen. A few minutes later she returned to her seat, after setting her dishes in the dishwasher, between the two friends and waited for them to finish. "Oops" Axel "accidentally" knocked over a nearby salt shaker under the table. "I'll get it" he smiled and leaned down. "I'm a get you a cookie" he whispered in Dirge's ear. She kicked her legs happily as a sign of "Yay!" to him.

Soon, everybody was almost done eating. No new conversations had shot up and Demyx had finally recovered enough to finish eating. Everything was peaceful...and then it happened.

On the opposite side of the table that seated Dirge, Axel, and Roxas a rip was let. It sounded like an atomic bomb went off right in the room. Xigbar immediately fell out of his chair and died on the floor. Axel automatically picked Dirge and Roxas up out of their seats ran for cover in the hallway. Everybody else scrambled for clean air as it slowly became polluted.

Lexeaus, who was still seated in his chair, blushed and stood up. Everybody still in the room groaned in and choked in agony as another burst swept through the room. "Excuse me" he coughed a little and took his dirty dishes into the kitchen. By now, several of the members had suffocated and were now passed out on the floor.

In the hallway, Axel was cracking up from the show that had just commenced in the previous room. "That was too close!" Roxas held his hand to his chest to keep from having a non-existent heart attack. Just how many people escape from that type "natural" disaster alive? Dirge looked up to her holder in confusion, but giggled a little anyway.

* * *

**A/N: **Lol whaaaaaat? Oh, I find that last part probably the most hilarious part of this short little chapter. How many of us survive an "attack" like that? Huh, this chapter _was _kind of short, but one of my funnier ones. More later! Please review!


	11. A Refreshing Bath

Dirge munched happily on her cookie as she, Axel, and Roxas walked down the hallway. The older two decided not to take the risk of dashing through the smog of a steroid taker sleigh and to just leave their empty dirty dishes their for Xemnas to take care of if he survived the sudden outburst of "natural" gas.

"Now what?" the little girl looked up to her higher operatives. "Dunno, we got the rest of the night before we hit the sack, anything you had in mind?" Axel crossed his arms behind his head and looked down to her. She shrugged; she had no idea in mind. She'd only been there one day after all, she didn't know what was possible.

"I've got a suggestion, how about a bath?" Roxas smiled down to the darkish like skinned girl next to Axel.

"Bath?" she stopped and looked over to him. The other two stopped and got a closer look at her. In fact, they just now noticed that she had several grass stains, a little bit of mud, and dirt on her. Not to mention her coat was still ripped and she'd need a new one along with her hair being a mess from all the ruffling. She looked like she had just gotten off of a football field. How the hell did that slip by them in the first place?

"Yeah, a bath" Axel winced as he nodded to both her and Roxas who was also nodding back at the suggestion. Axel picked her up and the three continued on their way to his room.

* * *

"Okay, how should we do this?" he set her down on the floor and put his hands on his hips, looking questionably at Dirge. "I don't think you're old enough to take a shower," Axel started to circle her while he examined her messiness, "definitely past the age of bathing in the sink so that's out of the question." He didn't know why she looked like she could fit in the sink, she was young, but not _that _young; maybe 7 or 8 possibly, but she's not a baby for Pete sake.

"A bubble bath?" Roxas suggested with a small shrug of the arms and a smile on his lips. "Yaaay!" Dirge jumped happily.

"Yeah, but where? My bathroom doesn't have a tub, only a shower stall" Axel stopped and looked over to his friend.

"Um...Larxene's room?" the blond shrugged and smiled nervously. "Do you want her to die so badly!?" the redhead shouted at him with a look of shear "You must be out of your mind."

"Right. What about that little bathhouse Xemnas has out back?" Roxas thumbed the window.

Axel gasped in realization. Of course, the little bathhouse that's been sitting out on the patio of one of the higher levels of the castle. Nobody ever used it a lot which meant that there would be almost no chance of disturbances or of anybody being in there. It was perfect.

"Genie-us idea Roxy," he smirked and looked down to Dirge,"we're gonna take you to the bathhouse." She cheered again and smiled happily.

"But, wait" Roxas started as he cupped his chin in thought, "Just how are you going to be down there?" he asked with a hint of slyness in his voice. Axel chuckled a little and crossed his arms. "Just what're you implying?" Roxas shot him a suspicious look and pointed, "You're going to watch her bathe aren't you?!"

Number 8 looked taken aback at his friend's odd question, but quickly recovered with 100 percent HP. "No, I'm not going to watch her bathe, but I'll probably help her bathe!" he countered with a small hint of anger in his voice.

"Sure you're not going to turn into a Vexen clone and go all bow chicka wowwow on her!?" Roxas still accused him. That coming from Roxas did sound very weird in Axel's opinion. Very weird. "No! Look, if you're so worried about her, then come down with us and we'll bathe her together. We'll all take a bath!" he announced while he put his arms out to the side in frustration.

"You two are going to take a bath with me?" Dirge looked between the two boys. Before Roxas could answer, Axel answered for him, "Yes, Dirge. All three of us are going to take a bath together." She tilted her head in confusion. As far as she knew, Roxas and Axel were boys. Practically _men_. Two boys plus one girl equals what would happen next?

* * *

Within a few minutes of teleportation, the three were in the bathhouse. The entire room looked almost like a giant indoor pool area, with a few exceptions of course. The walls were decorated with tiles of blue, orange, and other different colors and shades. Altogether they seemed to pain a picture of an ocean at sunset with many different sea life in the blue water. The floor was smooth with a creamy shade of porcelain while the ceiling had none of it since the light of the moon shone through the glass window ceiling. Lines of mini spotlights hung from above, but only lit the outsides of the pool where people would walk. A bench stood across from them on the other side of the pool along with some towel hooks. On their side, was a door and also another bench with the towel hooks. Both sides had a changing shade, decorated with Japanese looking animals and scenes.

"So this is the bath?" Dirge walked over to the pool looking tub and set her plushie down. Rectangular in shape, the water was a creamy looking type of blue, with the faintly visible Organization crest at the tub floor.

"Yep, this is the infamous tub" Axel walked next to her with his bag full of bathing supplies.

"Why's it like this creamy look?" she looked up to him while pointing at the water. "It's some type of mixture that keeps not only the tub clean, but also helps clean the body and soul. Some crap Marluxia was talking about" he shrugged.

Roxas walked over with his bag and, taking off his glove, dipped his hand in the water. "Feels nice, but the water's cold" he looked over to them. "No problem" Axel lifted an arm to the side, summoning his element to the palm of his hand. Clutching his chakram, he gathered up his strength into his arm and chucked his weapon into the water. Seconds later, the tub was steaming with a heat that also filled the room.

"And your bath is set" Axel smiled down to Dirge as he called back his weapon from the waters depths. Curiously, she dipped her hand in the water really quick before nodding to both the boys. Happily, she began to unzip her jacket when Roxas suddenly stopped her. "Don't you wanna change behind that shade over their instead of in front of us, cause you know Axel's going to watch right?" Roxas pointed to the shade, Axel shooting the blond a piercing look.

"Okay!" she nodded and scurried behind the shade. "Even though we can see her shadow from here" Axel mumbled through clenched teeth. "Shut up you pervert head" Roxas glared and teleported to the shade on the other side of the pool. "I'm changing over here!" he waved as he walked behind the wooden curtain. "Fine with me" his friend shrugged and began to undress himself right out in the open. A few minutes later...

"Here I am!" Dirge jumped from behind the shade, her tail wrapped around her waist to hide any cleavage. Axel almost jumped at her sudden appearance, holding his towel to his groin. "Really? So you're ready then?" he turned to her, a mix of embarrassment and surprise on his face, whatever that would look like. She nodded. "Well alright then" he wrapped his towel all around and set his bag a little closer to the tub.

"Also done" Roxas appeared next to him in a burst of darkness, toweled as well.

"Then lets get this over with" Axel removed his cover and stepped into the tub. At the feel of the heat, he stiffened with happiness and stepped further into the water. Letting his skin adjust to the hot water, he turned around and waved for the others to come in. "Water's fine!" he smiled. Dirge turned around and slowly climbed into the water, keeping her tail wrapped around her waist for safety. When she was finally in all the way, she held onto the rims of the edge. The water really wasn't that deep, but she couldn't really feel the floor under her feet. "Good job Dirge!" Axel clapped with a tiny hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Coming in Roxy?" he looked over to Number 13 with a smirk on his lips and a strange glint in his mint green eyes.

"How do I know you're not skinny dipping?" Roxas crossed his arms as he asked in a flat tone.

"Is there a problem with that?" the redhead chuckled. "Axel!" Roxas stomped his foot as he made a small motion to Dirge who looked between the two in confusion. "C'mon Roxy, Dirge did it. Don't you want to join us?" he smoothly asked as he waded over and wrapped his arms around the little girl.

"Did Axel spike your drink at dinner Dirge?" Roxas looked to the little girl. Giving Roxas the look of srsly, Axel suddenly grabbed his ankle and pulled, slamming Roxas to the floor at the back of his head and dragged him in.

"Glad you could finally join us!" he smiled as Roxas shook his hair of the moisture. It drooped out of shape and into his face, revealing it to be longer than anybody actually thought as it reached past his shoulders. "I hope you get eaten" Roxas growled through gritted teeth as he flipped his hair back.

"Now Roxy can get clean too!" Dirge cheered happily. He couldn't help but smile, she was young and being cute in front of him. Plus, he now felt like he needed to take a bath after all the fighting and sex jokes Axel cracked that day. Dirty and nasty felt he.

"Alright, lets get you washed up" Axel reached into his bag and pulled out a bottle of body wash. Midnight Jazz, his favorite, along with a fiery red loofah. Popping the cap, he poured the syrup looking dark violet body wash onto the bath tool. "Ready?" he moved closer to Dirge.

She suddenly shrieked and drew back. "Something touched me!" she looked in the water.

"Axel you bastard!" Roxas shot out without thinking. Wishing the others wouldn't cuss, yet he just did. The hypocrite.

"That was my leg you jackass!" Axel shouted at Roxas, "Dirge" he blushed, looking to the little girl. She slowly came towards him again, but shrieked when she came to close and drew back again.

"Your leg again, pedophile?" Roxas tilted his head at a sharp angle and gave him a seriously questioning look.

Axel blushed and shot him a look before gently drawing Dirge near him again, finally starting to clean her up. Within minutes, she was calm enough around him as he started to lather the body wash on her and Roxas began to wash himself up using his own bathing tool and body wash, Sea Salt Paradise. Yet he couldn't avoid the comment Axel made about it sounding really close to a drug or moreover a drug _trip._

While Axel bathed the little girl (and himself as well) and Roxas did himself, the blond looked into the water towards Dirge's waist. Hip-o-crit! He could actually see Dirge's bushel of fur forming from her lower back into the fur covered limb. There's enough proof for that dirty old pervert. Then again, he noticed something else as well. What looked like a sort of crescent shape with a large faint ring around it was marked on her back. He moved a little closer to see if his eyes showed him the truth and that he was not seeing things. It was there, and it apparently looked like it was actually apart of her skin. Not a tattoo, engraved, or burned onto her. Was it some type of birthmark?

"Now for your hair" Axel pulled out another bottle, this one labeled Embers Reflection. Roxas had already pulled out his, Lunar Glaze, which Axel joked that Roxas was trying to be a doughnut. With all these names Dirge didn't really know how music, paradise, reflections, and glazes could actually smell so good. It didn't make sense.

"You sure you're getting her tail too?" Roxas asked as he lathered his hair, but kept an eye on Dirge's back. "Yeah, yeah, I got it" Axel rolled her tail between his hands then dunked it under the water before repeating the rolling, Dirge giggling at the feel.

"Axel, what's that?" she suddenly asked, pointing to the ceiling. The other two looked up to the window ceiling where she was pointing at the heart shaped figure in the sky, illuminating light like the moon. She just _now _chose to ask?

"That's Kingdom Hearts, Dirge" Roxas answered as he looked at the "moon." "Kingdom Hearts?" she looked over to him in confuzzlement. Why would somebody name a giant yellow heart in the sky something like that unless it had an actual kingdom inside of it?

"Yep. Said to hold the heart of all worlds and everything that lives after the Heartless attack and destroy a person or world" Axel explain as he poured some water on her hair to wash out the suds. "Everything that lives? Are your hearts in there?" she looked to the two boys. They both shrugged and shook their heads with a hint of despair. "Don't really know. Even if, I'm content being this way, sort of" Axel gave her a reassuring smile as he laid back into the water.

"I guess it's not that bad" Roxas agreed somberly as he laid up against the rims of the pool. He knew he had half a heart, they all knew, but he didn't understand completely why he was like this.

Dirge sighed as she lowered her head and began to wash the body wash off her shoulders, but stopped as she heard a muffled sound and saw bubbles bubbling on the surface near her.

Axel shot up out of the water, hair completely drenched, and shot a look to Roxas. The blond blushed and shrugged embarrassed. "Nice one Roxy! COM-_plete_ly ruined the mood over here. Really, thanks" the redhead gently pulled Dirge towards him.

Finally after washing up, they were completely clean and fresh. Axel stepped out of the water first, and grabbed three towels out of his bag. Wrapping one around his waist and trying to dry of his hair with the other, Axel turned around just as Roxas lifted Dirge out of the water, tail around her waist. He dried her off thoroughly and settled the towel on her shoulders as Roxas also stepped out and dried himself. Ready to go, she picked up her plushie and was lifted into Axel's arms while he held his bag of bathing supplies. In an explosion of darkness they were gone.

* * *

"Okay, so what do you have to wear to bed?" Axel asked as he set Dirge down on the bed.

"I don't know. I think Xemnas might have some of my clothes" she guessed as she cuddled her plushie in front of her as the towel slid off her shoulders. Cleavage ready.

Roxas opened his mouth to be a hypocrite again, but Axel luckily stopped him, "Hey, Roxy, go check with Xemnas to see if he has any clothes for her." Srsly? Roxas gave him the look, "You really want me to go to Xemnas for that?" he asked in the srsly tone of voice. "E-yeah" Axel nodded in a way that a person would do to a person who seemed, and probably was, crazy. Roxas gestured his arms and hands in a way that said "Looking like this? You've got to be kidding me."

"Just ask him real quick. If it's for Dirge, then he'll probably understand" the higher officer tried to dry out more of his hair.

"Why can't you do it?" Roxas mumbled with a slight disgusted look. "Cause I've got a little girl to watch. Responsible, remember?" Axel poked Dirge's cheek. Was that becoming an addiction?

"Why don't you take her with you?" the blond shrugged with a confused look. Axel gave him the srsly look again, "And you were all talking about us being pedophiles" he cocked an eyebrow. Roxas suddenly shuddered and gave up the fight. "Anyway, Xemnas doesn't want to see me naked anyway. We had a little-what do ya call it-"Butter incident" and hasn't wanted to see me naked after that anyway" his friend explained as he tried to dry Dirge's hair some more.

"Alright! Alright! I'll go!" Roxas gagged and disappeared in a burst of darkness while a disgusted sound echoed after him.

"Alright, when Roxas gets back, he'll hopefully have some clothes for you. If not, I'll let you have one of my shirts to wear" Axel walked over to his dresser and rummaged through the clothes for a clean pair of underwear. Finding one, he dropped his towel right then and there, a shriek coming from behind him. "Oops, sorry" he looked back to see Dirge covering her eyes in fear. He quickly slipped them on and through the towel into the laundry chute. "Okay!" he turned back around, flashing his clothing like they were something to be proud of. Dirge peeked over and giggled at his underwear, chocobos and moogles pictured all over the dark blue. He sniffed and pouted a little bit just as a corridor opened up and Roxas came stumbling out of it and onto the bed.

"And he said?" Axel walked over while Dirge looked down to him from the bed.

"NEVER ever come into my room like that again" Roxas looked up to them in horror. Great, Axel was wearing off on him.

"So, what'd he give?" Axel helped his naked friend up. Number 13 held up the blue plastic bag which he handed to Axel to see for himself. "Socks, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a new coat, a roll of bandages, a pair of panties," he stopped to see Roxas shooting him a look,"oh drop it already! What else is in here? A bunny suit..." he pulled out the white outfit, with the long arm and pants sleeves with a cotton ball tail on the bum part, out by the hood that had two long bunny ears attached to it. "Do all your outfits revolve around animals, Dirge?" he looked over to her. She shrugged. It wasn't impossible.

"What the hell is up with that though? No pajamas? Tell Xemnas we mean business when we have a naked girl in my room!" Axel poked at Roxas' chest, not realizing how nasty his words were. Roxas gave a disgusted look and slowly put his friend's hand down to his side, "He said that was all he could find for Dirge for now. He's going to go shopping sometime soon" he said slowly.

"He should've done this today or better yet, last night" Axel pulled out the blue panties, covered in hearts, and handed them to Dirge. Hiding behind her plushie, she was able to quickly slip them on without the boys looking.

"Guess I'll just have to get you one of my shirts" he walked over to his dresser and pulled out a business looking shirt for her.

"You know, he wanted us to do something with these bandages" Roxas sighed as he took the roll out and sat down next to Dirge. Axel watched him as he untied the wrap she had on her and unwind it off her arm. The aftermath of the first aid left a still open wound that was scarring over, but was still bleeding a little bit. "Are you gonna spray me again?" she asked with worry in her voice. "Nope, just gonna re-wrap this for the night" he ruffled her still wet hair and began to dress her wounds. Tying it tight, he finished just as Axel slipped a shirt over her head. Lets face it; the shirt was big for a girl her size.

The boys looked at each other after seeing her and shrugged. They didn't know why they did that, they just did. "Hairdryer time" Axel picked the little girl up as he and Roxas strutted into the bathroom. A daily ritual.

He set her down on the counter and reached under the sink to pull out two hairdryers, one black the other red. Tossing the black one to Roxas, he started to reach down for an extra blue one he had in the cabinet, but stopped midway to look at Dirge, "Do you know how to use a hairdryer?" he asked. He had a guess of what the answer would be, but he just wanted to make sure. She looked at the device Roxas had in his hand that had several different buttons on the handle and then turned back to Axel while shaking her head.

"Then I'll dry your hair" he stood back up and inserted the plug into the outlet. He flipped the switch and a blast of hot air along with a loud noise came out. Dirge blinked as he aimed it at her; from her view, it looked like the the barrel of a gun. Yet, instead of bullets coming out, a burst of hot air was blasted into her face. She shut her eyes as the air gushed forth to her, trying to open them, but only ended up making short tightened blinks. "Sorry, did that get in your face?" Axel asked as he put the dryer down to his side. She nodded stiffly. Suddenly, a gush of air blew into the side of his face and knocked him back a little bit. Roxas stood there with a smirk on his face, happy with his act.

"What the hell was that for?" Axel shouted as he regained his composure.

"Suuuuure you're sorry" he said sarcastically as he directed his dryer gun back to his own hair, to the left side of his head to get that upward position he always had. To others it was a joke, but to him, it was style.

Axel quickly wooshed his dryer in his friend's face before getting back to Dirge. This time he did it more gently by setting the dryer to low and aiming at her bangs instead of her chibi like face. He slowly began to move around her head and thoroughly began to dry her hair. The feel of the warm and coldish air flowing around her head felt refreshingly comfortable. The next place he moved to was her tail. It was a little awkward to him since he had never dried a dog this way much less a person with a tail, but he somewhat adjusted to the bushel of fur.

"Done" Axel shut the device off. She felt around her hair to find cool and warm spots, but was basically satisfied. "Thank you!" she smiled up to him. "Don't mention it. Think you can brush your hair?" he opened a drawer and pulled out a brush. "Think so" she nodded.

"How about I do it?" Roxas put down the hair dryer as his hair was in a somewhat upward pose. All it needed now was a little bedhead and he'd have his way.

Axel handed him the brush and moved Dirge to his side of the counter. With Roxas taking care of her, he flipped his hairdryer back onto to high as he just held it in a diagonal position above his head before moving it to the back, then back up to the front. He constantly kept doing this awkward movement; all there was to it. The spiky blond started to brush the locks of raven black on the little girl's head. She kept still as he hair was stroked by the hair tool, it felt nice. Within a few minutes, all three were done; two spiky officers and the little girl with the clean hair. All feeling fresh.

"Okay, bedtime" Number 8 picked Dirge up into his arms as they walked out of the bathroom. Setting her down on the bed, he headed over to his dresser again and picked out a pair of black pants. Roxas picked up his bag and headed for the door, mind you he was still naked with the towel around his waist.

"See you tomorrow guys" he opened the door. "Bye Roxas!" the two said as he left.

Dirge happily went under the sheets and cuddled against the pillow. She was clean, and that was something to be happy about.

"Now listen," Axel said as he slid under the sheets next to her after slipping on his pants, "I don't want any drooling or anything like that" he set his elbow in the pillow and settled his head in his palm. "I'm sorry" she apologized again as she sunk into the sheets, still looking up at the Flurry of Dancing Flames. He shook his head and pulled her back up a little bit. "Just don't let that happen again" he pointed at her, but without any disappointment or harshness in the gesture. She nodded.

"Also, you said you were looking for the bathroom last night after you left?" he asked as he looked over to the door across from the bed. She nodded once more. "Well, now you know where mine is. If you have to go, go to that one. Don't go wandering the hallways at night cause you could get lost like before and it takes a while for a Dusk or some other Nobody to find you unless you happen to be in their patrol area or you summon them. You were lucky. Got it memorized?" he gave a small smile. She nodded to confirm it all.

"There's nothing worse than having to piddle-lee-doo in the hallway when you're lost" he laid down on the pillow with his arms crossed. He then looked to her, "Have to go now?" he asked.

"Yep!" she nodded and jumped out of the bed, scurrying to the door. Good thing he asked. A few minutes later, she came back out, Axel still awake and waiting for her to come back to bed like a husband to his wife...but luckily this wasn't the case.

"Wash your hands?" he asked as she climbed into the bed. "Uh huh!" she said happily as she made herself comfortable. He reached over and turned off the lamp next to the nightstand.

"Goodnight Axel" she cuddled her plushie as she closed her eyes.

He rolled his eyes, but smiled as he closed his eyes. "Goodnight Dirge"

* * *

**A/N:** Because being clean feels _that _good. Somewhat more of a calmer chapter, though still with some humor in it. Dirge is no princess, just a little kid, so she won't always be treated like one. No idea why I went into detail with what the bathhouse looked like. That was just weird but how I pictured it to be. Huh, not much here for a note but take that as a good thing. More later. Please review!


	12. Of Grits, Fits, and Marshmallow Bits

I don't own Raisin Bran Crunch, Mickey's Magix, or any other product said in the story. Take that!

* * *

Early morning shined through the window from the outside world, but since two people were too asleep to notice it didn't really matter. Dirge nuzzled into the pillow and let out a sigh as she tried to sleep some more. Axel shifted position and turned onto his side toward the little girl, eyes still closed in sleep. The eyes of the plushie were stitched closed, so it really had nothing to open up to. Everything was quiet and peaceful, but that didn't last long.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" Axel fell out of his bed as the sound of his alarm clock blared in his ears like a siren.

"BAaaaaah!" Dirge shrieked as she rolled out of the bed on the opposite side from the sound of Axel's cry of terror, a pillow falling off with her and landing on her head.

"Dammit to hell" he mumbled as he scratched his head, his back against the nightstand. Grumbling and groaning, he got back on his feet and slammed the alarm off. He then turned back to the empty bed and climbed onto it, heading for the other side.

"You okay down their shortstuff?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Good morning!" Dirge shot up with the pillow still on her head. "I'll take that as a yes" he smiled as he removed the cushion from her black hair and set it back in the correct spot.

"Time to get ready" he slid of the bed and stretched his arms and legs out.

"What're we gonna do today?" she asked she lifted her plushie out of the sheets and into her arms.

"I dunno. I think today might be a mission day," he crossed his arms and looked back to her, "and with that arm of yours, you're not fit for any of that."

She rolled up the sleeves of the shirt and looked at her arm. It still hurt a little, but it was still recovering. Xemnas _did _say that she would have to be excluded from any future missions for a while. At least she didn't have to get her wounds stitched.

"Will I have to stay with Saix again?" she asked in a slightly concerned voice. He let out a small laugh and looked to her in a comical expression, "You don't like staying with Saix?"

"Yes, but I was just asking" she answered as he grabbed one end of the sheets and she grabbed the other.

"I dunno, we'll see. If you're lucky enough, Xemnas may have you stay with Demyx or Roxas if I have to go out on a mission" he gave her an answer as they thrust the sheets toward the pillow.

Together, after making the bed, both Nobodies went into the bathroom to get ready. Brushed teeth, washed face, done hair, the works. Getting out of there, they moved on to getting dressed. Axel dressed up in his usual black coat that showed his oddly skinny arms, black boots and pants. Out of the bag Xemnas gave him last night, he looked between the new coat for Dirge and the bunny suit that was included. Black or bunny? Bunny or black?

"Xemnas gave this to you for a reason, but does he want you to wear it today or what?" he asked in a tone of confusion.

"One for today, one for tomorrow?" she tilted her head in guessing. He looked from her to the two outfits, back to her then back to the two suits.

"Fuck this shit, you're wearing the rabbit suit!" he threw the jacket onto the dresser.

Poking her head out of the head part of the suit, she looked up to him with a smile. Her fingers barely reached the ends of the sleeves, but the pants fit perfectly. Axel flipped the hood onto her head, the bunny ears still lolled back and long enough to reach a bit past her bum. Cute.

"You're ready, lets go" he stood from kneeling and headed for the door, the girl and her plushie right behind him.

"Morning!" Roxas waved a hand after Axel opened the door.

"Just what the hell are you? A stalker?" the redhead looked to his friend with a disturbed and disgusted look.

"Nnnnnope! Just waiting for you guys to be done" the blond smiled sweetly. Too sweetly.

"I'm not a pedophile!" Axel shouted as he took Dirge's hand and led her past the possible stalker.

"Did I say anything?" Roxas caught up with them, a smile still on his lips.

"Yes, yes you did, last night" Axel turned to him and nodded on his yeses.

"At least last night I was right" Roxas crossed his arms behind his back as they walked.

"Otto dokkoi kako" a song from below. Axel and Roxas looked to each other in surprise before looking down to Dirge.

"Otto dokkoi mirai" she skipped slowly in front of them. The two boys blinked in surprise. Was she singing?

"Hey Dirge, what're you doing?" Roxas finally asked. "I dunno" she smiled up to him. The boys above frowned; well _that _was certainly the answer they were looking for. "You mean you're not singing?" Axel asked sarcastically for some reason. "Oh, I'm singing" she nodded up to them. Well that was certainly obvious. "What're you singing?" Roxas tried to keep his sarcasm inside. "I dunno. It's just this song that came into my head" she pointed to her forehead as she stopped skipping.

"Out of nowhere?" Axel raised an eyebrow. "You must've heard it before somewhere."

"It does sound kinda familiar, but I don't remember hearing it somewhere," Axel and Roxas looked worriedly to each other, "but I do feel there are words missing" she crossed her arms. "Well, why don't you sing the words you know? Maybe the rest of the song'll come up with it eventually" Roxas smiled gently down to her. She nodded and continued to sing. This was clearly a somewhat bad idea as Dirge's song had some violent holes in the lyrics from words that she couldn't remember which basically made the song/melody out of tune.

"Shippo no haeta metaru ninja da yo...Teyandee!...Izayuke robo kyatto" absolutely broken. Roxas and Axel winced at each other, but showed fake annoyed smiles every time the little singer looked up to them.

"Koko wa hitotsu makecha...Otto dokkoi kako-" "OhhhhhKAY! Well, that's certainly an interesting song Dirgey" Roxas had decided he had quite enough and ruffled Dirge's hair.

"Is it that annoying Roxas?" Axel leaned closer in a low whisper.

"Yes, yes it is. And I needed to stop it before I lost my mind" Roxas gave him an eerily strained smile.

"Where are we going?" Dirge looked up to the snickering boys.

"Dining room, we're gonna have our meeting there" Axel pointed down the familiar hallway.

"Everyday?" she asked.

"No, but most of the time" Roxas answered for his friend.

"Okay. Are meetings fun?" she asked. Curiosity caught onto her.

"NO, NO THEY'RE NOT!" Axel sulked in a tone of absolute distress and hatred as he fell to his knees.

"They do get pretty boring over time. I'd rather be dead at times like this" the blond shrugged.

"ROXY NUUUUUUUU!" the redhead grabbed onto his friend's coat and nuzzled his face into the leather as Roxas sweatdropped in disgust and Dirge watched in confusion. "But of course I'd drag Axel to hell with me" he smiled sarcastically. Axel immediately shot up and swung Dirge into his arms as he continued to walk down the hallway. "That's what I thought" Roxas smiled triumphantly as he caught up with his friends.

"Do we get breakfast?" Dirge looked to Axel as she was perched on his shoulders.

"Yep, before the meeting begins, we get something to eat" he nodded as the three entered the dining room. "Thank goodness for that, I don't think I'd be able to outlast one of Xemnas' meetings without eating" Roxas sulked out as well and nearly collapsed, but luckily Axel was there should his young body suddenly drop dead.

They strutted through the dining room and into the kitchen. Inside several other members, namely Demyx, Zexion, Xigbar, and Xemnas, were already getting their own breakfasts together. The four looked to the entering three in boredom and confusion. Conforedom? Borefusion?

"So this is why the white rabbit was never in Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. She was getting breakfast with two Nobodies" Zexion chuckled from the table.

"...Did you just call me idiot?" Axel eyed him angrily while Dirge wagged her tail happily and Roxas face palmed. She didn't know the book, but she knew he was addressing her as looking cute.

"Is it Easter already?" Xigbar joked from the corner of the kitchen.

"I knew that outfit would fit you right" Xemnas ruffled her rabbit ears as he walked past them.

"Morning" Demyx smiled, being the only real Nobody to give a greeting, as he opened the oven. A burst of heat exploded in front of him and he immediately shut the oven with a look of embarrassment on his face. "You cooking something?" Axel set Dirge on the counter next to the cereal cabinet. Demyx nodded. "Allow me" the flame dancer moved to the oven as Demyx moved out of the way and opened it. The Oven of Hell let out another burp of heat, but Axel fearlessly and just plain boredly reached in and grabbed whatever was in there. "Yo" he set the muffins on top of the stove. "Thanks" the dirty blond thanked him.

"You made muffins Demyx?" Xigbar looked at him confusedly. "Yep! It's a recipe I've known for a while and I haven't really gotten to use it in a long time" the mullet man carefully set the muffins onto the plate. A Baker's dozen, surely enough to share and more than enough for everybody. Sharing _is _caring after all.

"What do you want for breakfast Dirge?" Roxas asked as he looked into the cereal cabinet.

"I don't know" she shrugged as she watched him.

"You should start out with cereal. Cooking takes too long to do" Xigbar poured some milk into his bowl of Raisin Bran Crunch.

"Why are you eatin-" "I LIKE THE RAISINS!" Number 2 cut Axel off and quickly ran out of the kitchen. The others stared to where he ran in confusion. What, the, hell?

"Lets get something good" Roxas raised an eyebrow in confusion as he reached into the cabinet, "Lucky Charms or Mickey's Magix?" he pulled out the two boxes. "Wait, what the hel-" "I WAS ASKING DIRGE, Axel" the blond raised his voice to keep him from doing the unimaginable. Axel looked to Demyx questioningly, but he just shrugged in as much confusion.

"The Mickey's Magix cereal turns your milk blue" Number 9 said in a convincing tone.

"They give you the magix of the king" Zexion said from the table, his face in his book as he stirred his apple cinnamon oatmeal. The others turned to him in surprise and suspicion. "How did you know it said-" "MMMH" the dark haired officer cut off Roxas as he dug deeper into his lexicon.

"Whatever" Roxas got two glass bowls from the cabinet and poured the cereal in, Axel secretly snatching the box of Lucky Charms.

A few minutes later, with their cereal in hand, Roxas, Demyx, and Dirge headed for the dining room when they stopped, noticing Axel was still at the counter.

"Coming fireball?" Roxas asked.

"I'll be there in a minute" he called back immediately, hiding something in front of him.

"Okay, then" Demyx shrugged and led the younger two into the next room.

The three took their seats at the table, Demyx getting the chance to sit next to Roxas this time instead of the sadistic psycho woman from hell. Yet he still watched in horror as Dirge set the bowl of cereal on the table and sat in the chair with the moogle plushie locked in her arm.

"Has your milk turned blue?" Roxas looked to the little girl as he stirred his cereal.

"Isn't that a little personal Roxas?" Demyx winced in disgust as he slid his muffins to the middle of the table. Roxas sweatdropped; why does everything point to sex?

"Yo!" Axel slid into his seat next to Dirge.

"What took you so long?" Roxas turned his attention to his late friend.

"Nothing, just getting some cereal" Axel smiled nervously as he swished around his "cereal."

"What the fuck Axel!?" Xigbar asked from across the table.

"Are those marshmallows?" Dirge looked at the HILL of marshmallows building from Axel's bowl.

"I don't know what you're talking about Dirgey. It's just cereal" he said through gritted teeth.

"Those look like the Lucky Charms!" Roxas shot up from his seat.

"Yeah? _And_?" the redhead shook his head in question.

"He didn't even pour in the grainy parts, he just picked out the marshmallows" Zexion walked to his seat with his oatmeal and coffee in hand.

"Thanks Zexion, we can always count on you can't we?" Axel twitched his eye, still with clenched teeth. The psycho...

"Why Axel? Why'd ya do it? You know Larxene's gonna kill you!" Demyx pleaded.

"I seriously" he took the bowl in one hand and tapped Dirge on the shoulder with the other. She looked his way as he poured the marshmallows into her bowl from behind, "Don't know what you're talking about" he smiled in relief as he brought his bowl back with less than half the marshmallows then before.

"You're a monster" Xigbar shook his head from across the table.

"Heeeeey" Dirge said in realization at the increased amount of marshmallows in her bowl.

"Just eat and enjoy Dirgey. Eat and enjoy" Axel ruffled the bunny ears on her head.

* * *

Afterward, everybody else finally joined them in the room with their own breakfasts, Larxene with a bowl of apple cinnamon oatmeal.

"Who took all of the marshmallows out of the Lucky Charms?" she asked, looking straight to Axel. "Oh sure, blame the pyro guy who just wants to have a little fun" he answered sarcastically as he got a spoonful of marshmallowyness. "Well, it's true you've been doing it for the past several weeks now" Luxord sawed his waffles with his knife. Poor waffly things...

"Why is it that humans package hearts into cereal while we have to go out and look for ours ourselves?" Xemnas pondered and took a sip of his decaf.

"You know they're making fun of us right?" Zexion eyed him as he flipped another page in his book. Lexaeus broke out crying. "Baby" Number 6 took a drink of his coffee.

"You guys should try my muffins. They're really good!" Demyx smiled and drunk some apple juice.

"Did you poison them?" Xigbar asked as he took one, then passed the plate to Axel.

"If they are, then why did you take one?" Vexen asked.

"Suicide" Zexion coughed and flipped another page.

"Are they organic?" Axel asked in sarcasm as he got two, one for him and one for Dirge.

"Just shut up and eat" Demyx's face became dark in anger. Everybody at the table leaned away. That was creepy.

"You need therapy" Roxas took one, then passed the plate to Xaldin.

Axel was the first to take a bite of blueberry goodness. He stopped chewing and stared at it in astonishment. It was good. It was better than good, it was great. Better than great it was awesome!

"Oh yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! So good...Mmh, so blueberry. So sweet, so muffiny. If this was a woman I would so be making it out it! Ugh, so AWESOME! Too good to handle. These are better than hearts. Who needs 'em when you got THESE? Ah, better than sex. Ah!" Axel fell to the floor and by the sounds, sounded like he was making love...to his muffin. He was actually rolling around on the floor while eating it, but from across the table, it sounded like a COM-pletely different story.

"Yummy!" Dirge wagged her tail happily after taking a bite of the muffin.

"You like 'em Dirge? You should totally join me down here" the freaky guy under the table called from the floor.

"Don't do it, he'll eat you" Roxas shook his head to her.

"Woah, these are good Demyx. What'd you put in these?" Xigbar asked.

"Blueberries, sugar, cinnamon, and a little bit of strawberry milk along with the usual mix" he smiled proudly.

"This is probably what the afterlife would taste like. Not this dying pit of hell" Marluxia glared at Xemnas who retaliated with his Superior Glare of Major Pwnage. He won.

Eventually, after all the good comments on the muffins from heaven and the odd sounds coming from Axel's side of the table, everybody got back to eating like somewhat normal people. Larxene squinted her blue eyes a little bit to see just what the heck the pyro and the "brat" were eating. Something small, colorful, obviously edible. Was that blue milk?

"AHA! You both took the marshmallows!" she shot up and pointed.

"No we didn't" Axel stuck another spoonful in his mouth in plain sight.

"You two are so gonna get it!" she shot up from her seat, sparks starting to dance around the table.

Dirge huddled close to Roxas in fright, clutching his coat like a cling on.

"Number 12, sit your chapped ass down right now!" Xemnas shouted as he shot of his seat. "Number 2, Number 11" he motioned to Xigbar and Marluxia to gain control of the mad-ass woman.

"Quit telling me what to do" the pink haired man whined as he ate some Trix. So instead of his lazy ass, Saix took his duty instead and grabbed onto one of her arms while Xigbar grabbed the other, yet she still charged up.

Electric strikes shot across the table and around the floor. Everybody started to jump onto their chairs to avoid getting electrocuted. It was obvious Axel was immediately electrocuted and knocked out cold. Another one bites the dust. Xigbar then decided it was a good idea to try and rearrange the space of the room by moving the table, food, and chairs.

"Dammit, Xigbar! Stop it so we can finish our breakfast!" Luxord tried to catch his plate of waffles that kept disappearing every time he tried to make a grab for them. Lexaeus said nothing as his cinnamon roll and scrambled eggs circled his head. Look who's HUN-GRAY!

Dirge huddled as close as she could to Roxas while they both stood on the chair. She suddenly lost her grip and slipped off the chair to the conducting floor below. Both he and the rest of the group could here a small cry of pain coming from her. Larxene smirked and lowered the sparks as Dirge began to cry in both fear and pain. Child abuse much? And Xemnas had had enough. He rushed over and dropped down to her, wrapping his arms around her and shielding her from any nearby sparks. Lifting her up and into his arms, he stood up and looked to the now shocked out Larxene.

Putting a boot on Axel's empty chair, he held Dirge in one arm and aimed his free arm toward the Savage Nymph. "IMMA FIRIN MAH-" he stopped at the odd looks from the those around the table at the sudden change of his somewhat "calm" and orderly personality into Shoop da Woop. Even Dirge's tears had stopped and Axel had woken up to stare at him in confusion. "Sorry, I don't know what came over me" he stood up normally and sorta dusted himself off.

"AWK-waaaaard" Demyx said as he sat down with the others.

"Now then. Larxene, I will not tolerate such behavior this early at the table, especially if you're going to hurt Dirge" he glared at the blond witch across the table.

"What about me?" Axel complained as he climbed back into his seat. "Eh, not so much" his leader shrugged, Axel making fake crying noises.

"Well, they stole all the marshmallows! They should be punished!" the blond girl pointed to the two Nobodies.

"Actually, Axel stole all of them, then he _poured some into Dirge's bowl to look like she did it" _Roxas eyed Axel with an obvious glare while the redhead smiled nervously.

"All this over marshmallows?" the Superior's eye twitched a little. Larxene nodded childishly like a kid who was being asked by their dad if they broke the window by throwing a baseball at it.

Sighing in annoyance, Xemnas snapped his fingers. Nothing really happened at first, but then the members noticed the liquids in their drinks shaking. The shaking became more real as the floor shook as if in an earthquake. Demyx cowered in his seat, Axel and Roxas had the look of WTF? Xigbar shifted uncomfortably in his seat while Saix and Zexion kept calm although Zexion did seem to turn the pages a little slower...like anybody cared. Marluxia began to nervously pick the petals off a daisy, Luxord kept attempting to drink his drink despite it spilling on him every time, Vexen looked to the hallway in horror, while Xaldin slowly crept under the table. Again, Lexaeus did nothing.

From the hallway area, two very large Hulk looking Nobodies with small knight helmeted heads entered the room and stopped behind Xemnas. Dirge stared wide eyed at the hugemongous beings behind him, the crest of the Nobodies on their bare whitish gray chest. "Moo" she said in a small voice.

"Larxene needs some calming down time. Take her away boys" Xemnas nodded toward the psycho woman.

The large Bouncer Nobodies made their way over to her and took an arm in their massive hands while she freaked as they "escorted" her out of the room. Everybody sat stunned for a while before turning back to Xemnas.

"You're too much like a father figure Xemnas" Zexion glanced over to him before turning back to his book.

"Yeah, it's like you're the dad, Saix's the wife," a growl stopped Xigbar for a minute, "Axel, Roxas, and Demyx are the big brothers, Dirge is the little sister, Vexen's the perverted grandpa," "Hey!" "Zexion's the dark cousin everybody feels awkward to be around," "_Excuse _me?" "Luxord's the drunk uncle," "Only after a _few _drinks!" "Lexaeus is the meh second uncle, Marluxia is the gay cousin," "I'M NOT GAY!" "and Larxene's the psycho bitch of an aunt. We're all one dysfunctional family" Number 2 finally finished.

"So where does that put Xaldin?" Roxas asked curiously.

Xigbar looked to the dread-locked man and shrugged, "He can be the annoying neighbor who doesn't stop scaring kids with his ugly face."

"Uncalled for Braig. Un, called, for" Xaldin huffed and got back to his breakfast.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Hold the phone! Since when is Xemnas even qualified to be a dad? I don't see any qualifying papers saying he could take care of kids or anything like that!" Axel looked him over suspiciously.

"Um..." the Superior started out. "Wait, if he doesn't have any papers then...!" Roxas thought, the look on his face of sheer terror. Axel immediately snatched Dirge out of his Superior's arms,"XEMNAS IS ILLEGALLY TAKING IN YOUNG KIDS!"

"Where have I been all these years?" Zexion groaned as he covered his head with the lexicon and set his head on the table.

"I feel so wrong now!" Roxas hugged his torso. You're dirty Roxas! DIRTY!

"WHAT?!" Xemnas started for him, but stopped as Axel held something in front of his face. "Marshmallow power! Stop!" he held the hourglass marshmallow up to him. Xemnas stared confusedly at the yellow puff that was part of a complete breakfast. "All hail the hourglass!" Luxord drunkenly waved his arms in the air. Already the coffee got to him? Somebody slip some vodka into his drink?

Axel then broke off in a run down the hall, crying and laughing the whole way while Dirge looked up at him in confusion. What was he talking about? Is he crazy? Apparently yes.

"NUMBER 8!" Xemnas trailed after him. Roxas also followed behind him, actually trying to catch up to Axel. Zexion didn't come, he was too busy moping under his book.

"Oh my gosh Dirge...you're were frigging stolen from your world! You just got taken in by a bunch of stranger-aher-aher-ahers!" Axel said between his maniac laughter.

"WHAT ABOUT ME?!" Roxas finally caught up to him. "You're a different story" the redhead suddenly stopped crying and looked down to Roxas with a serious look. "WHAT?!" the blond ferociously jumped onto his friend's back. Soon, Axel was attempting to run with a little girl in his arm, a maniac blond on his back, and a somewhat pissed leader behind him. Whoopie dee doo.

Eventually and unfortunately, Axel got too tired of running and collapsed on the floor.

"No Axel! WHYYYYYYYY?!" Roxas cried as Xemnas picked the blond up by the hood. He set Dirge on Axel's abdominal area and took the flame dancer's ankle in his hands. A few minutes later, they came back into the kitchen in the said fashion, Xemnas dropping Roxas in his chair, Axel on the floor next to his chair, and Dirge still on the passed out Nobody's abdominal area. Everybody still at the table looked on in confusion.

"Anytime you're all done overreacting" he looked at them with the famous look of srsly.

"Yeah I'm done" Roxas said quickly and shamefully.

"Poor Axey!" Dirge pat the redhead's chest and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I LIVE!" he shot up with the girl in his arms. "Alright I'm done with this!" Xemnas marched back to his seat while Axel took his own, setting Dirge in his lap. "From all the outrageous outbursts of breakfast, I've decided to send you all out on missions" he tried to keep his cool.

"WHAT?!" Marluxia shot out of his seat.

"Sit down you pastarian!" the Superior glared at him. The flower man dropped to his seat.

"Xemnas, you're not including Dirge in these missions yet are you?" Saix turned to his leader. He somehow managed to stay calm the entire time. "No, I don't believe she's well enough to participate back in these missions yet" the silver haired men shook his head. "Then, who's gonna take care of her?" Xigbar asked as he leaned toward Xemnas.

"I will. I think it'd be better if--AXEL QUIT LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!--I need to get some things for her" Xemnas said as he glared at the lower officer.

"That's right! We meant business when we had a naked girl in the room!" Axel pointed. Everybody gave him a disgusted look. "Nasty Axel, just, nasty" Xaldin shuddered at the thought.

"Whatever. I'll hand you out your missions after you're finished with breakfast. Just stop by my office" Xemnas picked up his empty plate and headed for the kitchen.

"Great" Roxas sighed and took another spoonful of his delicious _and _nutritious. "Quit feeling sorry for yourself, I feel more sorry for Dirge!" Axel gestured to the girl in his lap who was finishing her cereal. "Yeah, I feel more sorry for you Dirge. Staying with Xemnas" the blond shook his head in discontinuance. "Xemmy's not that bad" she smiled. Everybody at the table began to snicker. Xemmy, what a pansy name.

A few minutes later, everybody was basically finished with their fast break and reluctantly (except for Saix and Zexion of course) headed for their leader's office.

"So what do you guys think happened to Larxene?" Demyx asked as he caught up with the three Nobody-a-teers. "I don't know and frankly I don't care. That's what she gets for electrocuting Dirgey!" Axel nodded to her as he piggybacked her. "Seeing those Bouncer Nobody take her away must mean she's gonna get something big" Roxas shivered. This whole castle was like a drunken club and Xemnas was the manager who would call the Bouncer's to get rid of the ones causing the most trouble even though they'd come back for more.

-Somewhere else in the castle-

"MAKE IT STOP!" the Savage Nymph screamed from the bottom of her lungs all the way to the top.

Her body was chained to the ground by her wrists, ankles, and also her neck. Above her was a light, shining through something clear and wobbly. A bottle. Not just any bottle, a water bottle. She stared up in absolute nothing fear at the dreaded capsule of liquid. OoOoOoh, it tore at her soul and mind just looking at it. That watery water just sitting in the bottle, watching her, mocking her, daring her to come up and rip it apart. But wait, even if she did, nothing would happen to it, cause it's WATER! It'll just splash out and spill on the floor. It can't die! MWHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Behind a two way mirror, the Bouncer Nobodies watched her freak out in agony.

"_What's up with that crazy bitch?"_ one laughed in a deep voice.

"_She acts like it's killing her. Heh heh, do it again do it again" _the other one pat the other's shoulder.

With the bright shiny blue button in front of him, the first Bouncer pressed it. The bottle in the room loosened its cap and a single drop of water dripped from the rims. The blond watched in slow motion as that torturing drop of H2O fell away from the bottle and onto her forehead.

"WHYYYYYYYY!?" she screamed in agony, trying to free her neck so she could get up and rip that bottle apart. But to do that, she needed to have her ankles untied, and to have that, she needed to have her wrists untied, but both are chained to the ground MWHAHAHAHA!

"_I could do this all day_" Bouncer number 1 pressed the button again.

"_Count me in. Haven't had this much fun since we tied Number 8 to the blade of that giant fan. Hilarious" _Bouncer number 2 agreed.

-Back with the others-

"That's what she gets for being crap to kids!" Axel growled as they walked down the hallway.

"I don't know why, but my dowsing senses are tingling" Demyx crossed his arms and raised a blond eyebrow. "...Did Xigbar give you some drugs?" Roxas asked. "No! It just feels like there's water being used somewhere!" the dirty blond answered, obviously upset that everybody thinks he's crazy.

"Tingle tingle?" Dirge blinked as she looked to the Melodious Nocturne.

"Yep, Dirge. Demyx is crazy" Axel shook his head in shame. "I'M NOT CRAZY!" he shouted for the whole world to hear.

"Suuuuure you're not, you spaz" Zexion just happened to walk by.

Roxas, Axel, and Dirge all pat their water controlling friend's back as he cried, comforting him into the fact that it's okay to be crazy.

* * *

**A/N:** Ohoho, denial is always the first step of being crazy. The marshmallow bits are yummy, so I'm not surprised Axel stole them. Oh, don't we all wish we could have a breakfast like that? Aha, good stuff. The song that Dirge was singing early in this chapter should come into play some more later. Has to do with...her. Bleh! More later, maybe a little bit more later than usual. Thanks for reading this chapter and don't forget to review!


	13. An Afternoon with Xemnas

"Oh gosh I _hate _waiting" Axel mumbled as he stood in line.

Dirge was still on his back, looking around as if she had never seen the room outside Xemnas' office. Small plants, a bench with a small table next to it, a sign up clipboard hanging on the wall outside the door, a speaker above the door, restrooms next to the bench. What was this? The doctor's office?

"Would you rather be at the back of the line?" Roxas thumbed to the other several members behind them.

"I'd rather not be in line and have my mission already" the redhead groaned.

"Mew" Dirge blinked as she laid on his shoulder. He smiled, that was completely random.

The line was somewhat in order. Xigbar, Saix, Vexen, Zexion, Axel, Roxas, Demyx, Lexaeus, Marluxia, Luxord, Xaldin, and the now joining Larxene being last. Those closest to her looked back at her in disbelief. She looked terrible, like "drenched in the rain with black makeup running because she didn't have an umbrella and a car splashed her while she was on the street corner because the driver was too busy eating a sandwich while trying to drive with his feet but she was lucky enough he didn't crash into her, but the lamppost across the street" terrible.

She glared at them with a dark glint in her eyes, "Don't. Say. Anything" she hissed through her clenched teeth.

"...Yeesh Larxene! You look like a wet dog!" Demyx did the forbidden talk. She let out a screech that made her look like a freakishly pissed banshee woman. He flinched and turned around, shuddering.

"Do I feel sorry for the people near her" Axel shivered. The way she looked made Lexaeus look pretty and Xaldin like a stud.

Dirge peeked back at her nervously only to receive the glare of a king cobra. "Doh!" she turned back ahead to the front of the line. "Don't make eye contact with her Dirgey. She'll turn you to stone" Axel whispered to her. She took the warning and nodded frighteningly.

And to get away from the creepy psycho bitch of a woman, Xaldin slowly slid out of line (and survived!) and cut in front of Axel.

"Heeeeey!" Dirge pointed in realization.

"Back of the line jackass! I don't wanna see your dreads in my face!" Axel hit a few of the coils of madded hair.

"Believe it or not, I'm actually doing Xemnas a favor. He won't have to see your face so soon" the Whirlwind Lancer sniffed.

"Excuse me? You were doing us all a favor by staying at the back of the line. Seriously!" Roxas gestured to the other pissed off members behind him.

"And I bet Xemnas would want to see my face more than your ugly cow of a face so why don't you start walking" Axel stood his ground.

"Hmph still, I'm not moving. You think I want to stay back there with Ms. Runny Screech Face?" Xaldin looked over his shoulder to them.

"You look like her husband" Demyx countered for Axel then snickered with Roxas.

"Please move back to your place please" Dirge asked nicely and sweetly.

"I like this spot better thank you" the dreadlocked man replied. Axel frowned, now that just sucked. She asked nicely for Pete sake!

"Pwease be nice" she asked politely again. Xaldin didn't say anything that time, only stand there like a jerk.

Getting angry, Axel clutched his hand and focused his element on to them. At that moment, he got an idea that would get Xaldin out of his way and back to the ugliness that was the back of the line. Shushing the others, he carefully grabbed onto two of Xaldin's dreads and let the flames on his hands spread up the rope-like hair. He let go and stepped back a little and whistled innocently as the fire slowly spread to the other coils of madded hair.

"Is something burning?" Zexion looked around the office, then stopped at his ignorance. Axel, of course.

"What'd you do now?" he turned around and looked behind Number 3 to the redhead. "Nothing, nothing, just set Xaldin's dreads on fire, but nothing really" he answered innocently. "YOU WHAT?!" the older man lifted up his dreads to where he could see them. The fire was still burning and had burned several parts of his dreads. Hehehe, take that you bastard. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS AXEL!" he stormed out of the line and headed for the Men's restroom. "Should I even ask why?" the dark haired officer asked while he shook his head in the motion that meant WTF? "That bastard cut in line and he didn't move back!" Roxas answered for his friend. Yeah, he was mad too.

"And that gave you the right to set his hair on fire?" Number 6 asked with the WTF motion.

"Hey, Dirge asked him nicely to move, but when he didn't it was time to burn something!" Axel explained as he motioned to the rabbit on his back.

Zexion blinked, "Well...I guess when you put it that way..." he shrugged and turned back around.

A few minutes later and still in the same place, Xaldin came out of the restroom just as a loud boom went off.

"Holy crap!" Axel ran into the office, pushing Zexion down as Demyx and Roxas ran in before shutting the door.

"Look out!" Roxas grabbed a random poncho off of one of the nearby chairs and stuffed it under the space of the door.

"What is the meaning of this-" "Shh!" Demyx shushed his Superior.

Those in the room watched the door in terror and within a few minutes, the muffled cries of suffocating people and coughing was heard from behind the door followed by a "Pardon me" from Lexaeus. Roxas edged toward the door and looked out the small blurry window to see several people lying on the ground and a tall broad figure with a hand to his mouth walking down the hallway. Just then, another blast was unleashed, and another dying cry from those still outside. Then, all fell silent...

"Man, I'm am soooo glad I was not out there that time" Xigbar laughed.

"We could've died!" Demyx fanned himself with a random magazine.

"Pew!" Dirge shook her head. "Exactly Dirge. A bomb like that could go off at any time, so we have to be prepared" Axel nodded to her.

"If you don't mind Xemnas, I think I'll stay in here a bit longer" Saix shuddered.

"Me too" Xigbar raised a hand.

"Don't make me go out there!" Zexion shivered on the floor.

"Yeah, we'll stick around too" Axel nodded in disgust.

Xemnas didn't object, it was scary beyond that door.

`~*~*~*`

"Okay Dirge. We'll be back soon, okay?" Roxas stuck his sticky note in his pocket.

"Or one before the other if one of us comes back early" Axel jammed the note into his pocket, "Stupid separate missions" he mumbled.

"Do you want to take that exit?" Xemnas pointed to the door threateningly. Number 8 stiffened and shook his head. "Then I suggest you don't complain" Xemnas laid his hand back down on the desk. Dirge was sitting in his lap while her plushie sat in hers, which seemed to be eying him as it looked to Demyx. The other members that were there had already left for their missions and Demyx, Roxas, and Axel were the last ones there.

"Good luck!" she smiled.

"See ya bunny head" Axel waved as he disappeared into darkness.

"Later" Roxas smiled and he disappeared too.

"BANZAIIIII!" Demyx shouted and disappeared too, though his word echoed after.

Xemnas sighed and laid back in his chair in relief. "Finally. Good lord I can't believe I'm still alive" he mumbled under his breath. Dirge looked up to him curiously. Noticing this, he smiled down to the white bunny.

"I've been trying to get some alone time with you. I was going to send them all out on missions anyway, but the whole breakfast thing made me want to do it more. I need a vacation" he suddenly said and laid his head back on the chair.

"Beach" Dirge smiled. That was vacation, a good vacation.

He ruffled her bunny ears and picked her up as he got up from his chair. "We're going to the store today" he took a key out of his pocket and unlocked one of the drawers in his desk. Opening it, he pulled out a wallet.

"We're going to buy some groceries, supplies, and you're going to need some things as well" he poked her chest.

* * *

Xemnas set Dirge in the seat and buckled the seat belts together. She set her plushie next to her and buckled the seat belt on it as well. Her Superior then walked behind her and began to push, the wheels on the car started to move. Yep, grocery store cart's had the cutest things for kids. The little girl was seated in a little blue car in front of the grocery cart Xemnas had picked out. In the passenger seat was the plushie, looking like the passed out friend from the drunken party.

Let it also be known that Xemnas decided to go to the store of another world cause some of the stores back at their world weren't completely stocked with all the things they needed some of the time.

"So what's first on the list?" the silver haired man asked as he pushed the cart.

Dirge looked at the piece of paper he gave her when they entered the store and read, "Milk."

Yes, this went on for a while; she would read and Xemnas would steer to the aisle that held it. To the other people that they passed by, they looked somewhat adorable. The cute bunny suited girl in the car with her toy while the black coated man with silver hair pushed her along; they looked like a regular father and daughter together getting groceries. Nothing suspicious that the girl was wearing a bunny suit, her plushie looked dead, and her "father figure" was wearing what looked like some type of cult outfit. What's wrong with you people!?

Soon their grocery cart was filled with all sorts of food that shall not be listed because it was too various and too sortzy. "I think that's everything" Xemnas took another look at the list, checking off everything they had picked up.

"Check out?" Dirge tilted her head in question.

Her Superior looked down to her and nodded with a smile. She cheered and continued to "drive" as Xemnas pushed the cart to the check out line, the self-check out line. There, a nice old woman was checking out her cans of beans, boxes of oatmeal, and several other groups of groceries that she had mounted in her cart. With her fragile arm and hands, she shakily and carefully lifted each item out of the cart and brought it over to the laser swipe light. Then she carefully and slowly put it in the plastic bag and repeated with the other items.

At first Xemnas was pretty calm about this for a while, but she wasn't really picking up any speed and it seemed like she was going slower. Dirge had no real problem with her going slow, except for getting a little sleepy. Suddenly the sound of the beeps were close together, second after second. Apparently the old lady was trying to swipe something, but the computer wouldn't show the price for it.

"Good Lord" Xemnas sighed as he hung his head. For some reason he decided to stay in the line, despite the old lady taking forever to scan the item. Dirge yawned from her seat and laid her head against Moggy. "T-t-there we go" the old lady's voice crinkled out. The computer finally accepted the scan and showed the price. She pulled the next item out of the bag and scanned it. "Dagnabbit" she cursed old school like; it didn't show the price. Xemnas' eye twitched as his patience finally ran thin. "I wonder if it'll take coupons" she dug into her purse for the money saving pieces of paper.

"UUUUUUUUUGH!" Xemnas let out a cry and fiercely backed out of the lane and towards another. The old lady continued to rummage through her purse for the next few minutes until she looked back, "What? What'd you say?"

Giving up on self-check outs, Xemnas steered into the regular lane for some proper service. Regaining his composure and his patience, he looked down to Dirge, "Dirge, could you go over to one of the empty lanes and bring back fourteen Wonder Balls from the candy shelf?" he asked.

"Okay!" she nodded and unbuckled her's and Moggy's "seat belts." Grabbing her little friend, she scurried over to empty lane.

"What a cute daughter you have" the woman in front of Xemnas smiled back at him.

"Oh, uh, she's not really my-" "It's rare to see fathers out with their daughters now and then. It's always mom's with their daughters or sons and to be honest, I'm so tired of my stupid brat I just want to toss him out the window" another woman said.

"MoOom! Buy me some peanuts!" a boy with a red shirt and yellow shorts called from behind her.

"Only if you promise to shut up for a week!" she turned back to him. "I don't like that deal. How about if I actually eat the food you make me?" the boy tried to make a deal, "But then again, I don't think anything is worth eating that crap." Xemnas shuddered uncomfortably at the two, but thought about the whole "father and daughter" thing. They _did _look kinda cute together.

"Wonder Balls?" Dirge looked around at the shelf for the chocolately treats. She didn't really know what they looked like, but she knew she had the chance of finding them if she could read the package. Her eyes scanned the shelf when her instincts suddenly told her to turn around. "Wonder Balls!" she smiled at the colorful boxes behind her. Happily, she took each box off one by one and gathered them in her arms. A few seconds later with a pile of boxes full in her arms, she carefully head back to Xemnas.

"Sorry, I should've given you a basket to carry those in" Xemnas apologized as he took the boxes from her and set them in the cart. "It's okay" she smiled comfortingly up to him and jumped back into the car. A few minutes later, the items were scanned and the bags were set into the cart.

"Thanks for stopping at Fal-Mart! Do you need any help taking those out to your car sir?" the check out girl asked happily with a smile that said she had been working there too long. "Oh, no thank you. I don't have a car" Xemnas said as he scooted forward. "Don't have a car?" the girl looked at him like he was crazy. "But I'll be taking the cart with me, thank you very much" he smiled triumphantly and disappeared in a burst of darkness, leaving the girl in disbelief, shock, and boredom.

* * *

"You're quite the helper aren't you?" Xemnas laughed as both he and Dirge put the groceries away.

"Yep!" she beamed, putting away some fruit snacks onto the lower shelves of the pantry. While Xemnas would take care of the high shelved items, she would take care of the lower shelved stuff and when a bag was empty, Xemnas would stuff it into a soft tubey thing for later usage.

"Done!" Dirge plopped down on the kitchen floor, happy with their accomplishment of putting everything away and in order.

"Not quite" Xemnas smiled slyly as he looked over to the table. Confused, she turned her attention to the direction he was looking to and got up.

"We forgot one" she walked up to the table, the bag seated near the edge.

"Actually, I left this one out for you" Xemnas walked over and took the bag off the table and down to her eye level. Inside the bag were several neatly folded animal outfits, panties, socks, and a few toys.

"For me?" she pointed to herself curiously. "You're youngest of all of us and need some playtime for yourself" he took out one of the toys. It was pink at the handle with a pink "crystal" looking heart at the end. A few random colored buttons and lights were grouped under it. Setting the bag down, Xemnas pressed one of the buttons.

"In the name of love and justice, I punish you!" the lights flashed and the heart lit up. Dirge "oohed" at it in amazement like a little kid would. Shiiiiiny.

"Dancing Heart Attack!" Xemnas had pressed another button and again the lights flashed along with the sounds of battle "magic" and music. He then handed it to her. Looking it over curiously, she examined every part of it with interest, saving the buttons for last.

"The light of the heart never dies!" she pressed on of the buttons. Xemnas immediately frowned. Here come the heroic lines.

"Darkness will never win!" another button was pressed. Xemnas began to wince.

"Courage and strength come from the heart!" just how many phrases did this thing have?! Xemnas looked to the box. 13, greaaat. 'This toy's just discriminating' he thought as Dirge aimed for another button.

"Step off bitch and let me kill you!" the toy shined alone with the sounds of slapping and kicking. Xemnas was taken aback; what happened to the love and cuteness?

"Damn you! I should castrat-" Xemnas snatched the toy out of her hand and threw it against the wall, breaking it into little pieces. Dirge looked to him curiously and confused as to why he just went crazy on her new toy that she had had for less than a day. Seeing her face, Xemnas embarrassingly scratched the back of his neck as he searched for words.

"There's something wrong with that toy. I'll buy you a new one later" he answered.

"Okay" she nodded and gave a small smile. In his mind, Xemnas sighed in relief; at least she was still okay with that. "How about we do something until the others come home?" he suggested, hoping to get off the topic of toys. "Okay!" she huggled her Moggy.

`~*~*~*`

"Almost done, so hold still okay?" she asked, holding her crayon in front of her left eye while her right was closed. Xemnas watched amused on the couch while Dirge was on the floor with a sheet of paper and box of crayons next to her. Moggy sat motionlessly behind her up against the couch. In front of her was a Dusk, fixed in the position involving the upper half of its body folded under its groin with head turning and shifting in alertness. Dirge opened her other eye again and then got back to scribbling on the piece of paper. After a couple of seconds, she looked back up and then got back to her paper with her tail wagging happily. Al...most...do-

"Done!" she set her coloring utensil down and got up, grabbing her paper as she did so. "Oh really? Lets see how it looks" her leader leaned forward and the Dusk slithered its way over.

"Ta-dah! What do you think?" she smiled, proudly holding up her work. All he did was smile at her drawing. The shape of the creature was in there, but everything else looked off. The arms looked like rounded birds feathers while the legs and "feet" looked like sticks. She sort of got the head right in shape, but as far as Xemnas knew, there were no giant rolly polly eyes on the top and no tongue coming out of its non-zipper fanged mouth. Yet his smile continued, after all this was to be expected. She was a child, drawings were supposed to look this crappy.

"Nice job Dirge" he ruffled her hair.

_"Sir, this doesn't look anything like me"_ the Dusk "looked" to him, its body stretched from behind the girl so that his body arched over her.

"Nonsense, it looks exactly like you. Maybe you're seeing it wrong cause you're upside down" Xemnas waved it off with strained smile. The lower Nobody lunged its way around her and looked at the piece of paper again. "I tried to get your good side!" Dirge blushed a little bit. 'Like it has one' Xemnas thought to himself.

_"It still doesn't look like me" _it turned to its higher officer again. "You don't have eyes! How can you say it doesn't look anything like you?!" the man finally burst out. "You don't like it" the little girl lowered the picture, both eyes and tone becoming discouraged. Xemnas tensed a bit; this was what he wanted to avoid. Making a child cry is possibly one of the worst things ever done. He shot a look up to the Dusk as if to tell it to do something before he made sure it wouldn't be able to "see" again. It made a quick shudder as a response to the memo. Stretching its body, he slithered down to the picture that Dirge held up again and "examined" it further.

_"I like how you gave me eyes" _it announced finally. "Really?! I thought I'd give you some cause it doesn't look like you have any" her mood lightened up again with a giggle. "Now isn't that kind of her?" Xemnas looked back up to the empty shell with a strained smile again. _"Yes sir, it is kind of her. Thank you" _it nodded to her as it stood back up the way it "normally" did. "Aw, your welcome" she shook her hips a little bit. "I guess you're dismissed then" the leader nodded to it. _"Thank you sir" _it nodded to him as well. It started to make its way past Dirge again when it suddenly slithered back for something real quick.

"That's disgusting! What's wrong with you?!" Xemnas shot up from his seat on the couch after watching the Dusk eat the box of crayons. Dirge only watched in confusion as it slithered a few feet away before jumping into the air and disappearing in a flash of black and white light. "Dusks" he put his palm to his forehead. What can you do about them? "How about we go into the kitchen and put this on the refrigerator?" he suggested. "Yay!" she turned back to him and cheered. He swept her up into his arms and started down the hallway for the kitchen.

`~*~*~*`

"Boing!" she cheered once she had put the magnet, shaped like the Organization crest mind you, on the top edge of the picture. "Now that's art" Xemnas chuckled as he drew her away from the fridge to look at the way she had put it up. It was centered on the fridge door like a jewel of jewels, right next to Luxord's list of complaints about his booze and Saix's To Do list around the castle. Yep, jewel of jewels.

From somewhere down the hall came the sound of whooshes and fwooshes. "They're back!" Dirge's tail began to wag once she came to this conclusion. "I suppose" Xemnas mumbled to himself. Just when things were getting good with his bonding time with Dirge. Why do lower officers and idiots always have to ruin everything? He set her down on her feet, watching her scurry down the hall to where the noises were coming from. A sigh escaped him, but he turned back to the drawing she had made and smiled to himself.

"Welcome back!" Dirge immediately pounced on the first person she could sense. "Hey little bunny head" Xigbar ruffled her bunny ears, though still reeling that she could jumped that high. "Yay! Xigbar!" she nuzzled into his chest.

"She jumped into Xigbar's arms, that must be a curse" Saix chuckled to himself. "I missed you too Saix!" she jumped from Xigbar onto Saix, catching him in a hug. "I missed you too Dirge" he pet her back lovingly. "And if she jumped into Saix's arms then she's crazy" Marluxia strutted by. "Marluxia! Hi!" she waved to him. His shoulders hunched up to his ears and he stopped. Turning around, he wiggled his fingers in a gesture of saying "hi" before continuing on his way. "Were you lost in Wonderland while we were gone?" Zexion stopped by them, reaching under her head to ruffle her hair. She giggled at the feel and slowly stopped as he continued on his way.

"What...about...me?" Demyx called, panting from doing whatever he had to do on his mission. "Demmie!" she jumped down from Saix and scurried over to him. Just pouncing onto him knocked him over, but he tiredly gave her a hug anyway.

"Damn I'm tired!" the witch of a voice coming from Larxene complained. "I think your greeting train stops here" Demyx held her close as he got up so they wouldn't be on the floor should Larxene try to kick him. Dirge kept silent as the Nymph made her way past them, stretching but not so much as glancing their way. "I swear, some of you people!" Vexen complained, walking by after her but keeping his distance from her. Once he passed by, Dirge looked frantically about the area until her attention went up to Demyx.

"Demmie, where's-" "HE WON'T LET ME PEE! HE WON'T LET ME PEE!" Luxord came running by, holding up the end of his coat like a princess running from a ball. Eh...?

"I told him not to. I _told _him not to and what does he do? Goes out and buys a six back of beer. Idiot" Xaldin shlumped by, complaining all the way. After him came Lexaeus, arms crossed and steroid filled muscles all the way. He paused briefly in front of the other two and gave a small "hi" to them before continuing on his way. Ew.

"Hm?" Dirge looked down the hallway, looking for two in specific. Nobody else was down the hall near the front entrance. She looked back toward where everybody else was heading, but saw just those that had walked by. Uncertainty filled her chest as she looked up to Demyx. "Demmie, where's Axel and Roxas?"

"Thought you'd be looking for them. I can't say for sure, but I guess they're not back from their mission yet or maybe they're going to be out for a little while longer" he explained. "Really?" she looked up to him sadly as he set her down. "Probably" he shrugged. Her tail lowered as did her head, making Demyx feel some pity for her. Turning toward where everybody had come from, she sat down doggy-style with her attention to the door, Moggy clutched to her chest. "Should I stay here and wait for them to come back?" she glanced up to him. "I don't think that's a good idea Dirge. They may not be back for a while" he shook his head before looking to the door with her. It wasn't uncommon for Axel and Roxas to stay out after a mission, but with Dirge here and all...

"Why don't you come and stay with me for a while? We can wait for them to come home together" he suggested with some hope in his tone. Her tail started to wag again when she looked up to him with a smile growing on her face. "Okay!" she got up and jumped up into his arms again. He pat her back and started to make his way down the hallway, though still avoiding contact with the plushie.

'Axel and Roxas should be back soon' he thought as Dirge nuzzled against his chest, 'Hopefully...'

* * *

**A/N:** Bleh! Sorry for the late update. I wasn't even done with this one a while ago, so been trying to work on this along with Cataclysm for some time. Give me a little time, I only have one chapter in stock and I'm not done with that one either. Hopefully once summer comes I'll have some more time to work on this stuff cause school is bleh! That little boy and his mom part was supposed to be like a little Shin-Chan deal (which I don't own!). I tried. And most of us should know Wonder Balls...Always got the stupid tart kind! Ack! Don't own those either! Thanks for reading and please review!


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